1*?^. 1 ^( AN INQUIRY THE PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS IRELAND. ILLUSTRATED BT J.9tolem2'0 ^ap of €rin, corrccteu fig tfie aiti of ^«t5tc ^imxt* BY THOMAS MOOD, M. D. Author of the Prize Essay, published in the thiiteenth volume of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy :—" On the mixture of FaJ>!e and Fact in the early annala of Ireland ; and on the best mode of ascertaining what degree of credit these ancient documents are justly entitled to." " All nation"; seem willing to derive merit from the splendour of their original, ^and where History is silent, they generally supply the defect with fable." — GoW/miVA. " Nestiie quid.antequam natus sis, aciderit, id est semper esse puerum."—C(Cff9. LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. AND W. B. WHITTAKLll, AVE-MARIA lane; EDWARDS AND SAVAGE, CORK; AND JOHN CUMMING, DUBLIN. 1821 MEMBERS ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, In the endeavour to develop truth, amidst the mazes of fable, the deceptive play on names, and the errors of conjecture, I found it necessary to expose those manifest fictions which, for ages, have usurped its place, disguised and distorted it. If those researches have enabled me to prove that, with regard to the population, laws, morality, arts and sciences of the ancient Irish, the present race is comparatively a large nation, enjoying a considerably greater share of 2U60652 IV liberty, protection, knowledge and happiness, I shall deem my time well employed, in having contributed to the pleasure which such conviction would afford to the friends of Ireland. The composition of this Histor}^ such as it is, may be ascribed solely to your notice of, and liberality with regard to, the previous Essay. And, though it engrossed much of my time and labour, which, probably, would have been more advantageously reserved for other avocations, I do not presume, in con- sequence, to insinuate that, either is worthy of your countenance. However, if you, my Lords and Gentlemen, should consider this work an appeal to facts as well as to common sense, and believe I have been successful in converting the groundwork of Bardic story from fable to authentic history, and in evincing the British and Irish to be, almost collectively, the posterity of one dis- tinct stock, vou will be sensible tliat I have spared no pains in my endeavours to deserve the honor of your patronage ; an honor, which I am the more anxious to obtain, lest abler writers should be deterred from prose- cuting this Inquiry, and induced to pay more homage to our national vanity, at the expense, I fear, of truth and reason, than deference to the penetration and sound judgment of this enlightened age. I have the honor to be, MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, With all due respect, Your most humble, Obedient and obliged Servant, THOMAS WOOD. August 15, 1821. ADVERTISEMENT. The Author begs leave to inform the Reader that the Inscription called Pelasgic, alluded to in page 135, and printed in page 172 of this Inquiry, has no pretension to antiquity.— This discovery has been made by Mr. Townley Richardson, and communicated to the Royal Dublin Society, after those pages had been struck off. By a strict investigation in the vicinity of the place in which it was found, this gentleman learned that, those words reversed signify E, Con'td 1731 ; a person who, it seems, in place of having been a Deity, was only a cutter of mill- stones. The Author thought it his duty to insert the Inscription as he found it in Gough's Camden, although it tended to militate against the tenor of this History, and particularly, against his account of the Milesians, as some of the letters resemble the Bastulan. r i ^ V! .11 lo . « ; cf s ■' _»^ 'i"_r i/_p; M'rs map ok "ii i -ivi-^l /r.//y//,r .„./.y . /i.l/i/1/f //i.V'f/t/ti'iif/f/ ri/r///r///l^>-//li- /Jn//rrtft ■I'/V/liWi /i/-:/.i::f -VAVV-V 1« Sri'/Tj..jxfj«j rjf/.jy/j „/.,./, ,/:^«M..r.,-..r,/AV Cxi.tjc. » ,v,_._i >..Jt^^Ai^..J .^-. ,. A » '• '■■ .-.LEOOSIAN CELTS 1 W\ ^ 1 1 . ^\ ■ . \ '^ ' 1) A R X 1 I . „ft,l. 11 A M S 1 1 ^^ Vf"'"' lu.lll>« /Ir II „ „ „ 1 „ "3 * !>''' .J^JC^ti.^. ■^ . " i''* _^_^i^'li'^'''^^^^!t/'^^^*"'''*> "*"""" ^M^S'^n^ « /^ ^^^ I 6.' ^!Z"f,!^Zri^^^r^^Sr^^T. \r^''''''" ■'"■"""' ■-" M "'"' <«, >^. a~.j/^,i / ^ ^ '^Xlia.;;;^ ■s> ^^^' '^'" ''^*-^'' Z^*t- ^' ^"""'■^11?^^-^ ' 1^2^ --" ';;'„ •'"-'"—' 4; K A GN A Trr^V^X;^^^^^^^. ,.„,/.:-■ "■"''"".„^ J '" ^^^^■'-- «">?" ^IV//1,«^-/ -'(^^2^^ cV^r-./ '^^/'''' V^ ""^ f- •'••*'■' -f" ^fi^'^nis 1 1 e^ ^^''''"''■'^ZZZZ^Uy'' •'-'■'■•' 'l£^\ «™/--„™ X^^''""'-'"""- rn,„y liR.TlSHrELTS ^ , ^ri:^ -.^LJ ' tf^ !S ^^-""■■■■'"Y '°:^,'^X- ^ 1 -»w, .„..,: t:::J,w™„.,r. ^ i*"*^ <;^™.» /!,--w/„ -'--''. 5'"'*"» 1 ■ij;;^-^^?!*"^^""'':^ "'"'* ^l^,''"L4^ *l,„£S^r 5"iir j''^ ■^^^■'^^13'^ EBL-A.. S, '^ A UTERI ^B f^ ^B' ^^L f/,- ,i^-/eXiin.-,1fiJn> sT ft _^r HrFof ^7htAia-lha*n- ^ji^mSMma ARMinill AX CELTS ^^Hfcf^^il;^^ ' .,, 1 M ^^II. -JZT^T a 1* ** i,^ EU^ ui Fo^juna ^^"irrm Shfrlit ti^ri """ .^ ALLIES „,,-^, G VK G AN- 1 *fV/»« J,^^„SJ'^ a L 1 C M T B BSR F. O G A^^I N 'f^^r „,..„.„■. = BRIGAXTES („„,„, ^t>>in«r.mo jT ^C^^ i ^ f n^^A nu^r n^ Br^jia^^A \ \ \ '> K H f M I' *'f " '^ ' M.lraidh Ctiaeh ^^ ♦(■■?' \ ^ /*5 5' * ^ 1 1 _/^j '''■ / i^-N.O<:x ^//* j«^Vor*/Ad J \£fc^-«^ j/..//,,/^ ■-" wh^ ^--^T '^ — ^ ^ 1 ^ % ■■ %*" i, , f ' Vi^^l^* -!■ ) ^ * ' Ji " ^■li/*^'**!^"* ,i> V . ^ VE, ;„0R. £ ''^Hiif^^'- 4-"'' --4a ^'''■''''^"'''" '"*'"!"■■■■",.,."■■'■■' — ' *•.'.' I R " R ' ^ "^i^O/ ^*,l,,.i;' dirf/iikm,, -a,, Jrfi^ '' " (■"'"' ii"'''' "' '■'"""" •^''''"" >|;^» ""^ JWM .^^JisiJly-'-^^^- Jf^t'^ •i' ^^^Is^z^ , ^ " '^JkS^y'^'f^^ -1 „ 1 *■ "^ - /, 1. '■ ' " . <^y^ I /• >' ^ ' r V''' 1 7 fill — " 1. ,, ^. m. jH INTRODUCTION. Irish History, considered merely as a com- pilation from the accounts of bards, is not desemng of sober investigation. Its absur- dity is too glaring for criticism, and would not merit examination, were it not for the basis of the fabulous superstructure being in a great measure true, and for the importance which some learned authors have attached to fiction. It appears to have been the work of dif- ferent hands : it is full of anachronisms, and is in other respects confused. The epic poems, from which the history is compiled, chiefly comprise a relation of those unnatural wars, which, it is said, originated in a very n x 2 INTRODUCTION.' trifling cause and were waged, not (3nly be- tween two reputed brothers, soon alter their supposed arrival in Eirin, but between the posterity of each, during many successive centuries, although this island was, long before the arrival of their families, planted with tribes naturally jealous of encroachment. The heroes of those poems, Heremon and Heber, erroneously called brothers, are brought hither immediately from Spain, and this emigration is so generally credited, not only here but in that country, that every writer on Irish history, is expected to coin- cide with this opinion. Even at this day, after the lapse of three thousand one hundred and twenty years from the supposed arrival of the Milesians in Ireland, many families in this country consider themselves ennobled by their Scythian or Hispanic descent ; as if Scythia or Spain were, at that remote aera, more civilized than Gaul or Britain ; admit- ting that the latter countries had been then inhabited. INTRODUCTION. S The author of the Milesian history was, according to some writers, St. Kevin, founder of a monastery at Gleandalocli in the county of Wicklow; but, more probably, it was Fiech, a bard, as we are told, of the sixth century. The fictitious tenor of the com- position has been faithfully transmitted, in successive ages, by Cuanac, Cennfaelad, Fiech's scholiast, Nennius, &c. Supposing that the author had been acquainted witli the true history of the first settlers, a plain, safe, and near road would not suit the dig- nity of his muse, nor the vanity of his chieftains. The short passage from Caledonia to the opposite and visible north Irish coast, or from Anglesea, (Mona) to Erin, inviting hither the superabundant savages of Britain,' or those driven forward by the GalHc vis a tergo, could not afford any marvellous or remarkable incidents. The bard therefore sought after an ideal ancestry suitable to the credulity, and gratifying to the ambition of I. Cstsar, The ancients, according to Mr. Pinkerton, were unacquainted with those parts of the Northern hemisphere, which lie beyond the 52°. '" The ancient Spaniards, British and Irish, the Gallic emigrants from Armorica perhaps excepted, used no other vessels than Corachs. Appianus, who lived in the reign of Hadrian, says, the Spaniards undertook no voyage to the west or north, except to Britain during the flow of tide. Thcat. Geograp* OF IRELAND. 15 seems to have been driven to the south by the Foghmhoraicc^7 or African pirates, navigators of the race of Cham, who quitted Africa to avoid the descendants of the race of Shem. Among these were four celebrated fort builders, named Bog, Robog,'^ Rodin and Ruibhne, the sons of Madain muinreamhair — Madain thick-neck, who settled in Don- negal — Dun na ngal, the fortresses of the Gauls. The Nemedians, who remained in Ireland, ' were sorely oppressed by the tyranny of their African masters, till the posterity of Simeon hreac — the speckled or party-coloured Simeon, the son of Starn — History, the son of Neimhidh — Poetry, who had settled in Greece, came into the island. These people were called FirBolg — Belgae, and landed in the country two hundred and seventeen years vet. edente P. B. Bevero. Those who inhabited Portugal, according to Strabo, lib. 3, used vessels made of leather. — Pliny, Sex.Ruf.Avienus &Lucan agree that the British vessels were willow boats called Corraghs. Solinus says ; * in the sea between Britain and Ireland they sail in ozier vessels covered with ox-hides. The mariners abstain from food during the voyage.' And these were continued in use in the sixth century, according to Gildas. '7 Derived irom fogh, plundering, and mor, muir, or mar, the sea ; pirates. *" The Rhobogdii, of Ware's map of Ireland, whom he places in the N.W. of this isle, were, probably, called after this, Robog, who may be supposed to have been a chieftain from his celebrity as a fort builder. For reasons, which 1 shall as.sign in a subsequent part of this work, I suppose tlicni to have been the Rhcdanet of Celiac Gaul, who, in consequence of their maritime skill and 16 BARDIC HISTORY aitor Ncmcdiiis lirst arrived upon the coast.'^!^ Another of those grandsons of Ncinihidh — • Poetry, who headed the emigrants from Ireland, was called Jobhath. ' He sailed to the north parts of Europe, and some anti- quaries are of opinion that the Tuatha De Daniinn — Damni, descended from liim.^° The third general, grandson of Foelrj/, was Briotan-maol — the bald Briton, who landed in the north parts of Scotland, and there settled; and his posterity were long possessed of that country/ — ' Nay, holy Cormac Mac Cuihonnain asserts in his psalter, that it is from this !;3riotan-maol the island of Great Britain takes the name, which it bears to better constructed vessels, were enabled to pillage the south coast of Ireland. We are told that the first battle between the Foghnihoraicc and the NeimiJh or the sons of poetry, took place near Sliabh Bladhma, in Lcinster ; the next at Ros Fraocain, in Conacht ; the third near their own region at Tor Conuing in Dun na ngal, in each of which the Nemcdlans were victorious ; but in the fourth battle, which was fought at Cnamhruis, in Leinster, the Nemedians suffered a signal defeat. Neniedius having died soon after with 2000 of his colony at Oilcan arda Neimhiodli, now the great island in the cove of Cork, a heavy annual tax was imposed upon the survivors. This tax consisted in two-thirds of children, corn and cattle, a quantity of cream, butter and flour, which were sent to JlIagL GeiJne, or the plain of compulsion, since, the barony of Cool and Tullagh. In consequence of the state of vassalage, to which the Nemedians were reduced, they became desperate, and a fifth battle having been fought at Dun na ngal, the fortresses of the Rhobogd were razeil and their chieftain slain. At this juncture, however, More, another leader, the son of Dele— Dile, a flood, having arrived with a fleet, the Nemedians were vanquished. During their state of slavery, it appears that, some of them quitted the island. '» Keating, p. 187. ^ Idcni,p-. ISJ. OF IRELAND. - ' 1? this day ; and in this the ancient records of Ireland agree with him/*^ OTlahertj states, upon the authority of bardic history, that the Nemedians were exterminated, and that Ireland was again left to its native woods during two hundred, or, according to his computation, four hundred and twelve years ; yet, he does not say a word respecting the fate of the Foghmoraicc.** fit Bolg, or iSelgae, 'While the followers of Simeon-breac -^ remained in that part of Greece called Thrace, the population grew very numerous ; and the Greeks subjected them to great hardship and slavery, obliging them to dig earth and raise mould, and carry it in sacks, or bags of leather, and place it upon rocks, in order to form a fruitful soil/ — ' In consequence of " Keating, p. 185. '* Ogyg. p. 170. — The Psalter of Cashil supplies this omission by in- forming us that A. M. 5287 Brcasrigh, an Heberian monarch, (king of the Ibhcarni), ultimately defeated them, '^ Simeon, one of their leaders, is called irtac, speckled ; probably in allusion to the Gallic dress, which might have been introduced by commerce into Britain, before the emigration of the Belg» to Ireland. D 18 BARDIC HISTORY this servitude, they ciime to a resolution of shaking off the yoke, and 5000 of them assembled, and made boats out of the lea- thern bags in which they used to carry earth ; but according to the book of Droma- sneachta, they seized upon the fleet of the king of Greece. These descendants of Simeon re- turned to Ireland about 2l6 years after the invasion of the island by Neimhidh,* ** — and, according to OTlaherty, A.M. 2657. They had five commanders called Slainge,*-^ Rugh- ruidlie, Gann, Geanann^^ and Seanghan, be- side the five sons of Deala — Kindred, the son of Loch — the Sea, son of Teachta — Possession, the son of Tribhuaidh — Treabhnaith, family of the earth, who was the descendant, in the seventh degree, o^ History, the son of Foctri/,'^'' Avho may be easily traced up to Japhet ! — ^ Keating, p. 187. ^i Slainge was probably a leader of the Menapii or Coriondii ; Rujh- ruldhe of some other Bclgic Sept, in later ages. In p. 13 of the old trans- lation, Keating agrees with O'Flaherty, p. 165, that two, of three of Partholan's sons, were called Slainge and Rugbruidhe ! '^ This bardic history of the Belgx is greatly confused. Keating, p. i8 of the old translation, informs us that Gann and Geanaim were two principal commanders of the Foghmoraicc, who were slain in a battle with the sons of Poetry, in Conacht. They were, probably, the Gangani of Ptolemy, the Ceann Cangi of the county Clare. ^? Keating, p. 189. The bard invents a history, which is partly founded on a play upon the various significations of those Celtic imitations of Belgic names, which the affinity in sound furnished him with. Hence odd origins arc deduced from strange employments. Thus, Fir Bolg, literally, the Bclgic OF IRELAND. 19 * These five leaders of the Fir Boig divided Ireland between them into live parts/ ^^ The followers of Slainge were called men of Gallian ; and he became the first monarch of Ireland. ' The followers of the family of Geanann and Rughruidhe went by the name of Fir Domhnann ; and some antiquaries assert that, these two princes, with their third of the army, landed in Irrus Domhnan, and that that place has its name from them,*9 yet those five sons of Deala — Kindred, with their whole army, were known by the general name of Fir Bolg/ — ' Before them no one possessed the island, who could properly be called king of Ireland .'3° O'Flaherty informs people, from the south coast of Britain, arc said to mean sad men, in allusion to their supposed occupation ; from bolg, a leathern bag, ' which they made use of in Greece, — according to Olaus Varelius bolg in Gothic signifies a sackj belgr, a little sack: bolag, in the same language, means a society of the good. As they were a Gothic people it is evident that the name could not be derived from the Celtic. Fir Domhnoin, the Irish imitation of Damnonii,a people from Cornwall ; from fr, people and domhnoin, deep ; ' from the pits they used to dig, in order to obtain mould for the Fir Bolg.* Fir Gaillian, who were probably the Cauci on the cast coast of Ireland, from the name of a spear, ' which they used as weapons of defence, to protect the rest when at work.' Keating calls the Belga;, collectively, the sons of Uadkmor, or the terrible. ^ Keating, p. 189. ^ All the British BelgK, who settled in Ireland, were probobly the Damnonii of Cornwall and Devonshire. These landed at Arklow (Ard cloch) upon the opposite E. coast of Ireland, called after them Inmhear Domhnan, the Oboca of Ptolemy and the abhan mor of the present day. They settled in the South of Ireland. 3^ Keating, p. I'jl. Hence the subjugation of Ireland by Bclglc arms may be inferred. 20 BAUDIC HISTORY US, through Coenian the poet, that there were but nine Belgic kings in Ireland, and that their reign lasted but thirty years : he how- ever quotes a chronological poem, which extends it to eighty years, a duration which he thinks more probable.^^ Dr. Keating states it at fifty-six,32 or, according to the late translation, at thirty-six.33 Eochaidh, son of Eire, the fourth in descent from Loch — the Sea, reigned ten years. He was the last monarch of Ireland of the Fir Bolg race, and, during his reign the silver- handed Nuadha, king of the Tuatha De Danann, invaded the island, when, after a desperate battle fought at Magh Tuireadh, in the county of Galway, near Loch Masc, Eochaidh was routed, and ten thousand, or, according to others, one hundred thousand of the Fir Bolg were slain, between that place and Youghal — Eochail. Those who escaped, took refuge in Aruinn, He, Rachluin, the Hebrides — Insi Gal, and other islands,whence they Avere driven to Leinster by the Picts. 3» Ogyg. p. 172. 3* Keating— old translation, p. 22. 33 Idem, p. 191. In the 13th vol. of the Transactions of the R. I. A. Mixture of Fable and Fact, p. 6o, reasons arc assigned, which tend to prove that the Bel gx, on the contrary, were a predominant people in Ireland. In the following history the reader will judge whether the author's description of the manners and customs of the ancient Irish accords with the history of the Goths or with that of the Celts. OF IRELAND. ^1 They afterwards removed to Conacht, where Oiholla, king of that provmce, allowed them to occupy allodial possessions. They dwelled in Loch Cime, Rinn Tamhuin, Loch Cathra, RinnMbeara,Moilinn,DunAongusainAruin, Carn Conuill, Magh Naghair, Magh Nasail, Magh Maoin, Lochiiair and many others. At length they were driven out of the island by Concculain and Conall-Cearnach at the head of the Ulster forces. Keating adds that they erected no royal seat or edifice, nor cleared the lands of wood.^'^ Cuatfia I3e IBanann, or IBamnu^^ This tribe is of the family of lobaath, son of Beothuidh, son of larbhaineoil faidh, — the prophet, son of Neimeadh — ^Poetry. They sojourned in Boeotia according to some, while others assert that they dwelt in Attica, ^ History of Ireland, p. 195. ^i The arrival of this tribe in Ireland probably preceded that of the Bclgx several centuries ; but the former having been expelled by the Rhobogdii, the bird* allude to the time of their second settlement. They were the Damni, who occupied in the S, W. part of Scotland, Carrick, Cunningham and Renfrew part of Kyle and part of Clydesdale. Ptolemy calls them Darnii or Darini ; and the Irish epithet Dc is supposed by Camden to have been borrowed, from their residence on the river Dec. 22 BARDIC HISTORY about Athens. Here they learned the art of necromancy and enchantment. ' By their extraordinary witchcraft they used to infuse demons into the dead bodies of their armies to put them in motion ; when the Syrians, however, perceived, that they were the corses of those whom they had previously slain on the field of battle, that fought against them, the next day, they entered into council with their own priests, who advised ' them to drive a stake of mountain-ash through the corse of every one of those who used to revive against them ; and added, that if they were quickened by demons, they would be in- stantly converted into worms ; but that if they were really revived, the bodies would not admit of instant corruption.'^^ 'i'his experiment ]>revcnted resuscitation. The Syrians ol)tained a victory in consequence, and the Tuatha De Danann having fled and quitted the country, arrived in the land of Lochlann, where their skill in magic pro- cured them a favorable reception. Here they occupied four cities, and instructed youth. They afterward arrived in the north of Scotland where they remained seven years in Dobhar and lardhobhar. ' They pos- ^ Keating, p. 197. OF , IRELAND. 23 sessecl four articles of high value, of which one was the stone of destiny, which used to roar under each king of Ireland upon his elec- tion/37 And it is now ' under the throne on which the king of England is usually crowned, having been forcibly taken from the abbey of Scone in Scotland, by Edward the first.s^ ' After the Tuatha De Danann had con- tinued seven years in Scotland they removed into Ireland, and landed on Monday the first of May, in the north of Ireland, and imme- diately set fire to their shipping/ ' After that they formed a magical mist about them- selves for three days; so that they marched unperceived by the Fir Bolg, until they reached Sliabh an iaruinn,39 whence they sent ambassadors to Eochadh and to the nobility of the Fir Bolg, to demand the sovereignty of Ireland from them, or to try the fate of a battle/ The old translatioil informs us that this monarch, having accepted the challenge, lost from ten to one hundred thousand men, in consequence of their en- chantment. They afterwards defeated the African pirates. '♦^ 37 Keating, p. 199. 38 Keating, p. 201. » Literally, the mountain of iron; situate betwsen I.ochAlIcn and Loch Eirnc. *° Keating, old trans, p, 2C, 27. 24 BARDIC HISTORY Some aiiliquarjcs are of opinion that the Tuatha De Dandnu called themselves after three sons of Dan4nn, who were famous sorcerers. Others assert that both the mother and sons were worshipj)ed as deities. Some think the name derived from their skill in poetry, clan signifying an art, and likewise a poem or song ; and the word Tiiath, which literally means the north, is equivalent with lords or commanders/^i Among the different kings who are noticed by Keating,^* mention is made of three sons of Chearmada mil-bheoil43 — the honey-mouthed offspring of a man, son of Daghdha^^ — the good, who were called after the idols or gods which they worshipped/^ ' According to the psalter of Cashcl, the Tuatha De Dan4nn held the sovereignty of Ireland, in all, one hundred and ninety-seven years/^ ♦' Keating, late trans, p. 207. ** p. 215. 43 Gear, offspring ; mod/j, a man ; mil, honey ; bhaille, the mouth. ** Da, dagh, deagh, the good. *s These were CuHl, a log or a forest ; ceacht, a plough-share, and Grian, the sun. The bard bestowed this island, under three denominations, in marriage upon each. Mac Greine, the son of the sun, married it under its common name Eire ; Mac Ceacht, under one of its poetic denominations, Fodhla ; and Mac Cuill under another, Banba. They are said to have reigned alternately; each during one year. — As the bard or poet personified the island, he must surely have intended to personify its products and the sun, as the source of vegetation. The idea of this island having been wedded to her native woods, to agriculture and to the sun, is truly poetic. 4° Keating's history. OF IRELAND. 25 (Mac Mileadh,— litcraUy, the sons of a Soldier.) Deduced from the Cinneadh Scuit, the Scythian race, and Fine Gaoidhil — Fixe Gaill, the Gallic Family .47 Moses gives no account of the sons of Magog, the great ancestor of the Scythians. These are suppUed b}^ the book of invasions, and * particularly by that choice volume called the Leabhar dhroma sneachta, or the snow- backed book, which was written before St. Patrick arrived in Ireland. According to this MS. it seems Magog had three sons, whose names were Baath,^^ Ibaath,49 and Fathachta.-J° Fenius Farsuidh^^ — the true family of the Muse, king of Scythia, and ancestor of the Gaodhal or Gadelian race, was descended from the first of those sons. ' From the second sprang the Amazons, Bactrians and Parthians ; and from the last came Partholan — Bartholomew, who first settled in Ireland after the deluge, as well as Neimheadh — Poetry, son of Aghnamhain — *> Thi« promiscnous mixture of Gothic and Celtic denominations, which the bard applied to the Brigantian tribe, evinces that he was ignorant of the history of the Goths and Celts; and the general name Mileadb, a soldier, proves he knew nothing of the Brigantian leaders in Ireland. *^ Ba'th, the tea, death, tlaugbter. '♦' lobadh, deatb. ^ Fathachta, fo, zfrince, tochdach, tilent, quiet. ^ Fine, trihe o: family, uja, juit or /ri/r, fcarsa, a iierte. S6 BARDIC HISTORY Song; and consc(iucntly tlie riir>olg — Belgrc and Tuatha De Danann^^ — Damni/ 'Of the race of this Fathachta too came the great Attila, Avho subjected Pannonia to his sway, continued long to harass the Roman power, ]aid waste and depopulated Aquileia, Scc.'^^ * From Scythia, too, descended of the line of Magog, Avas Zeliorbes king of the Huns, who made war upon the emperor Justinian, &c/-^4 'Josephus aflirms, that Magogia is the name by Avliich the Greeks denominated Scythia/ 'The Gadclians, or descendants of Gaodhal glas^^ — Gaill, may with the same S^ Keating, p. 217. S3 Idem. S* Idem. SS Idem, p. 219. — O'Brien in his Irish English Dictionary (Remarks on the letter A, p. 5,) informs us that, ' notwithstanding the complex and inform ■shape of the words Gaidhil, GaoMil, Gaoidhil, Gaidhilic, Gaedhilic, GaoldhUk, into which they have been changed, yet the originals from which they were derived are still preserved in their primitive simplicity, by the very pronun- ciation of these latter words, which is very nearly the same as that of the former, inasmuch as the adventitious letters dh are not pronounced and serve only to distinguish the syllables : which shows that this was the only pur- pose they were first thrown in for. We should not in the mean time forget that it is to this change made in the words Gaill and Galic, doubtless by our heathenish bards, who inserted the letter d, that we owe the important dis- covery necessarily reserved to their successors who embraced Christianity, of those illustrious personages, Gadel and Gadelus : the former, an usher under that royal schoolmaster Pheniusa Farsa, king of Scythia, in his famous school on the plain of Sennaar, where this Gadcl invented the Irish alphabet and Gadelian language, so called, as it is pretended, froni his name ; and the latter a grandson of that king, by his son Niul, married to Scota, daughter of Pharaoh Cingris, as our bards call him, instead of Cinchres, king of Egypt.' • And from this Gadelus, our learned bards gravely assure us, that the Irish derive their name of Gadclians, who, they tell us, were also called Scots, OF IRELAND. 27 right be called Scythians or Scuit-^^ from Scythia, as the old EDglisli are called Goill from Gaul or France, whence they came. — * For this reason it is that the descendants of Fathachta, son of Magog, viz. Partholan, sonofSeara, with his people, Neimheadh — Poetry, son of Aglmamhuin — Song, from whom the Nevians are denominated, the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha De Danann are called the Greeks of Scythia, because they were originally from that country. ' In my opi- nion too, the reason why the descendants of Gaodhal, son of Niul,^^ son of Fenius from his wife, the Egyptian princess Scota. This discovery, I have said, was necessarily reserved to our christian hards, as their heathenish predecessors most certainly could have no notion of the plain of Sennaar, of Pharaoh, or of Moses; objects not to be known but from the holy Scriptures, or some writings derived from them, such as those of Josephus, Philo, &c. never known to the Irish bards before their Christianity. I have remarked in another work, not as yet published, that our christian bards did not lose much time in availing themselves of the sacred history to frame this story, inasmuch as we find it word for word in the scholiast on the life of St. Patrick by Fiachus, bishop of Sleipte, one of that saint's earliest disciples ; which scholiast, the learned and judicious Colganus, places toward the end of the sixth century. This date is much earlier than that of the ms. called Lcabhar Cabhala, or the book of conquests ; wherein our story now mentioned is embellished with further circumstances.' S" The undertaking of this noile son of the real family of the Muse evinces that nothing is impossible to a poet. This tribe, avowed to be a Scythian or Gothic one, has notwithstanding used the Celtic, and not the Gothic language, in all its peregrinations ! The bard does not seem to have known the difference between those languages, or that the Bclgaid or Gothic had been ever used in Ireland. — Vide Cod. Lccan. foL 233. ^ Niul, ncul, light i ncali, mblc i BARDIC HISTORY Farsiiidli, arc particularly called Scots, h because it was this Fenius Farsuidh and his posterity that obtained the sovereignty of Scythia ; and that Niul the younger son of Fenius, came in for no division of territory, like the brothers of Fenius, who got posses- sion of countries, whence they and their descendants were particularly denominated ; on that account Niul enjoined his posterity to designate themselves from Scythia, by perpetually calling themselves Scots — Scuit ; whereas they had possession of no territory, and Niul had no other property left him by his father, but the benefit of the sciences and various languages ; leaving the undivided sovereignty of Scythia to his eldest son Nenual/^8 * Some Latin writers assert that Gaodhal was son of Argus or Cecrops, who was king of the Argives ; but that cannot be the fact, because, — that line terminated about six hundred and sixty-seven years after the deluge ; whereas — Hector Boetius, and all the books of conquests of Ireland, aflSrm that the Gaoidhil were in Egypt at the time that Moses ruled the children of Israel there. Moreover, the books of invasions inform 58 Nenual— Nia-nual, ^ noble cbamplon ; niadh, ndamfien; neall, n&i/f.- Keat.p.SlD, OF IRELAND. 29 US, that about this time Scota, daughter of Pharaoh Cingcris, bore Gaodhal to Niul, son of Feniusa Farsuidh, son of Baath, son of Mawo*. The time that Moses besjan to govern the Israehtes in Egypt was about seven hundred and ninety-seven years after the flood ; and according to that computation there was about three hundred and forty-five years from the time of Argus, or Cecrops, till Gaodhal was born ; so that it is impossible for Gaodhal to be a son of Argus or Cecrops.^9 Some assert that Scythia^ according to Gailic etymology, signifies ^the land of thorns '^° The old translation of Keating's history informs us, that Niul, the second son of Fenius was sent abroad 'to improve himself in the seventy-two learned languages.^^' This, in the late translation, is thus altered : — * Fenius, however, being determined, as we mentioned, to become skilled in the various languages, despatched at his own expense seventy -two persons of learning to the several countries of the three parts of the world, at that time inhabited, and commanded them to remain abroad for seven years, that each of them might learn the language of the country in which they were to reside.^*' — » Keating, p. 221. f^ Idem. «' Idem, p. il. " Idem, p. 225. 30 BAUDIC IlISTOUY U[)oii their rcUirn, Fcniiis, sixty years alter the building of the tower of Jjabel, or, ae- cording to others, two hundred and forty- two years after the flood, set out with them to the })lain of Shenaar, near the city of Athens, bringing Avith him a great number of the Scythian youth. Fenius, having spent twxnty 3xars here, returned to Scythia and established seminaries of learning there, and appointed Gaodhal, son of Eathoir^^ — a Ship, as president over them. ' Fenius then commanded Gaodhal to regulate and digest the Gaoidhealg — Gailic, or Irish language into five dialects, as it now is, viz. — the bearla na Feine^^ — the Fenian or the Finnish lan- guage ; bearla na f!ileadh — poetic or bardic ; bearla eadarscartha — the historic; bearla Teibhidhe — that of physicians; and, the gnath-bhearla — the common dialect; and to name them generally from himself: so that it is from Gaodhal, son of Eathoir, that it is called Gaoidhealg, and not from Gaodhal slas, as others imaoine.^-^ <'3 Keating, p. 229. — Eathar, a s/j!J). ^* I conceive this to have been a mixture of the Sclavonic and Irish Celtic, which was probably used here by the Finnish militia or Finn-landers. Sec the history of the Finnish militia in a subse(}uent part of this worL ^i Keating, p. 229. OF iheland. 31 Caodhal is variously defined ; Buchanan derives it from gaotlun, noble, and cd, all ; i. e. tlie illustrious or all noble : others from the Hebrew gadol, great, on account of his great learning : some from gaoith-dil, which signify a lover of learning.^^ Pharaoh Cingcris, king of Egypt, having heard of NiuFs great learning, invited him to instruct the youth of that country. Niul ac- cepted the invitation, and the king bestowed upon him the lands called Capaciront or Campus Cirit, near the red sea, and gave him in marriage his own daughter Scota.^^ Scota bore him a son, who was called GaodhaL^^ It may appear strange, perhaps, to some that <^ Keating, p. 231. ''7 This island, as I observed before, was previously wedded, under three denominations, to the three sons of Cearmoda. They were killed in the battle of Tailtean ; but the widows still remained ; or, in other words, the island still continued to be known under the three usual names, until the arrival of the Milesians, who, having killed those queens, abolished their names. By ihis supposed event the bard wished us to believe that they subdued the island. In compliment to his victors, he labours to revive her under a new appellation, which he traces tothe immediate family of Heremon, Oir Mumhan — East Munster, the hero of his poem. And, not content with the mother of Niul being called Scota, and of royal descent, he bestows upon him a wife of the same name, and of a family equally illustrious, "^ The bard, having informed us of the source from which Ireland was called Scotia, now tells us how the Gaill, whom he naturally represents as her offspring, acquired their name. In a subsequent part of this treatise 1 shall endeavour to prove that the latter name was coeval with the firft colony in Ireland i and that both arc derived from different sources. 3? BARDIC HISTORY Niul, who was the litth descendant iVoni Japhet, should be coteinporary with Moses, since it was the space of seven hundred and ninety-seven years from the deluge to the time that Moses took upon him the command of the children of Israel. But I answer that it is not incredible that Niul might have lived some hundred years, for in those ages men lived a long tiine.^? During; the time that Niul resided at Capaciront, the children of Israel escaped from Pharaoh and came to the red sea, where they encamped near Niul's residence. Niul went to inform himself who they "were. Aaron met him outside the camp, and gave him an account of the children of Israel and of Moses, &:c. Mean time Niul and Aaron formed a mutual friendship ; Niul told him that his corn and other provisions were entirely at his service. This offer of Niul was communicated by Aaron to Moses. The same night a serpent bit NiuFs son, Gaodhal; but the wound was immediately healed by the application of the rod of Moses, who prophesied that wheresoever any of the posterity of this youth should inhabit, no venemous creature would have any power. ^'s Keating, p. 235. OF IRELAND. 33 This is fulfilled in Crete and in Ireland. — ' Some historians assert that Moses locked the bracelet he had on his arm to the neck of Gaodhal, hence the epithet glas. Others derive it from the green colour of his armour. And from this Gaodhal or Gaodhal-glas, all the Gaodhil7° are denominated." — Niul in- formed Moses that Pharaoh's resentment would be directed against him for his favor- able reception of him. Then Moses said, come with us, and if we reach the country which God hath prophesied for us, thou shalt get a share of it ; or, if you choose we will give you Pharaoh's fleet, — and set out to sea in it. Niul took this determination. A thousand armed men were then sent to the shipping, and they were delivered into his power. He went on board, and the next day he saw the opening of the sea before ^ This play upon the word Gall, the primitive appellation for a Gaul, a Briton, or Irishman, which in the plural is Gaill, is accounted for thus by Doctor O'Brien, p. 4 of his Dictionary, remarks on the letter A. — " The Irish bards or rhymers, wanting to stretch out this monosyllable gaill into tVfO syllables to serve the exigency of their verses and rhythmical measures, have first formed it Into Gadhill, agreeable to the former of the two rules now mentioned ; and when the second rule, caol le caol, &c. took place, it -required that an i or an e should be thrown in before tlie consonant J, by which means It turned but Gaidhill, or GacSill, instead of its simple original formation Gaill." 3i> BARDIC HISTORY Moses, &c. and its closure upon Pharaoh and his host, by which they were drowned. They amounted to sixty thousand foot and fifty thousand horse, as Eachtgus O'Cuanain archdeacon of Roscrea — Rosa-cre, asserts in a poem, which begins thus : " Whoever thou art that believe not truth." Pharaoh Intur, the successor of Pharaoh Cingcris, remembered the old grudge to the descendants of Niul, i, e. the friendship they formed with the children of Israel. They tlien made violent war on the Gaodhil, who were thereby banished out of Egypt. Thomas "VValsingham agrees with this, in the book called Hypodeigma ; but Walsingham is not to be wholly credited, for it was not to Spain 'that a certain chieftain of the Scythian nation went, but to Scythia; and Hector Boetius also errs in asserting that this chieftain was Gaodhal : no, it was Eibhear Scot, the great grandson of Gaodhal who went to Scythia, — and it was the sixteenth generation from him, named Bratha, son of Deaghatlia, that first reached Spain. ^^ This account is proved from Giolla Caomhain, an antiquar3^ Eibhear's 7» Keating, p. 245. OF IRELAND. , S5 father Sru, was the leader of the expedition from Egypt till they reached the isle of Crete, where he died/ His son Eibhear Scot took the command of the people, amounting, according to Giolla Caomhain, to twenty-four men 7* Avith their wives, until they reached Scythia; and, wherefore, a certain author asserts, 'it was from his appropriate nick- name, i.e.Scoty that the Gaodhil are called the Scotic race,' or the tribe or family of Scot. 'According, indeed, to a certain author, Scot signifies the same as Aixher^ — for in this time there was not a bowman superior to him; and from the nickname given him, the appel- lation attached to his posterity/ Keating how- ever, disapproves of this opinion, 'because it is the general conception of antiquaries that the reason for calling the Gadelian race the Scotic race, is, that they came originally from Scythia/ 7^ When they reached Scythia, a'^war broke out between them and their relations, the descendants of Niul. This warfare continued 7* Keating, p. 247, says, from the accounts of other antiquaries, thajt those emigrants amounted to one hundred and twenty persons, and that they rcucheJ Scythia from Egypt in four vesseli, each containing thirty pcrwns. " Keating, p. '2l5. 30 BARDIC HISTORY for seven years, until Agnon, son of Tail, the fifth generation from Eibhear Scot downwards, happily killed his relative Refloir, of the race of Nenual — Noble Champion, who was then king of Scythia. The posterity of Gaodhal, however, were afraid of the collected forces of the sons of Retloir, and they consequently left the country in a body, passing the terri- tory of the Seared Breasts, or Amazons, and arriving on the borders of the Caspian sea, took shipping and landed in an island of the Caspian where they remained a year. 'Their leaders on this expedition were Agnon and Eibhear, the great-great-grand-children of Eibhear Scot, who led them into Scythia. Agnon died in this island, but left three sons. Eibhear had two sons, Caichear and Cing/74 * At the end of a year they left the island, the crews of three ships, and sixty persons in each ship, and every third man had a wife.^-J They were driven into an island called Caronia, in the Pontic sea, where they resided one year and three months. On emigrating thence, they met Syrens at sea, wiiose enchanting but fatal 74 Gothic appellations, borrowed from the Eibhcarui and Cauchi of Ptolemy 'i Keating, p. 250. OF IRELAND. 37 music, Caichear, one of their leaders, pre- vented his people from hearing, by melting wax into their ears. During their voyage ' Caichear prophesied to them that no place was a settlement for them until they would reach Eirin ; mentioning at the same time, that it must not be themselves, but their posterity that should arrive there. They emigrated thence to Gothia;* where they abode thirty years, and some of them remain there until this day. Some historians assert that they remained there one hundred and fifty years ; others say three hundred years.^^ Bratha,'? a distant descendant of Eibhear Scot, emigTated from ' Gothia, near Crete and Sicily, to Spain, with the crews of four ships;' and their chiefs or leaders wereOige — Youth, Uige — Knowledge, the two sons of Allod — Antiquity, Mantan and Caichear.^^ There were fourteen married couples and six soldiers in each ship, (one hundred and thirty-six souls) * and, upon landing, they defeated the race of Tubal, son of Japhet^ who then inhabited the country, in three successive battles.'79 However, a sudden plague seized the sons of Allod, so that they all died except '^ Kcatim,', l).'-'53. V Sfyin^. '* Belgic iiamcj. Jy Kcatiug, p. 255. 38 BARDIC HISTORY ten. They grew up alter, and Breoglian, son of Bratlia, Avas born. This Breoghan was he who defeated the armies of Spain in many battles, raised or built Brigantia near Corunna, and Breoghan's tower in Corunna itself/^° This Breoghan had ten sons,^^ of whom one was called Bi-le. The son of this Bile was Galamh — Feats of Arms, a champion, usually named Milesius of Spain, from Mileadh — a soldier.^* The old trans- lation informs 'us that this Milesius engaged the Spaniards frequently and with success, for * he almost made a conquest of the whole country ,^3 and his Gadelians obtained some of the principal offices in the government.^* — * A. fancy seized him to go with a fleet, manned with Spanish youth, to Scythia, to visit his relations : he equips thirty ships. — He set out on the Mediterranean, and sailed directly N. E. by Sicily and Crete, until he reached Scythia,'^^ w^here he was graciously received by the king, who not only made »° Keating, p. 255. ®' The names of mountains and plains in the north and south of Ireland nave been collected into a catalogue, to furnish those sons with names. ^ See the history of the Brigantes, in a subsequent part of this Work. 83 Keating, p. 42. ^ These achievements over tlic Spaniards arc omitted in the late translation. ^^ Keatiiig, p. 255. OF IRELAND. 39 hiin commander in chief of the Scythian army, but gave him in marriage his daughter Seang — Slender- waisted, who bore him two sons, Donn — a brown colour, and Aireach Feabhruadh — the hostile bloody conflict. At length the father-in-law became jealous of Milesius' military prowess, and in conse- quence plotted to put him to death ; but Milesius — -the Soldier, apprized of the in- tention, contrived to destroy his unnatural relative. Having effected his death, and his wife having died in Scythia, he put to sea with the crews of sixty ships, and set out straight into the Mediterranean, in which he pursued his course till he arrived at the mouth of the Nile. He sent an embassy to Pharaoh Ncctonibus, from whom he received land of inheritance. ' There happened at this time a great war between Pharaoh and the king of Ethiopia. Pharaoh made Milesius marshal of his forces, and the latter defeated the Ethiopians in several engagements. Pharaoh, in recom- pense for his services, gave him his daughter Scota in marriage. 'She bore him two sons in Egypt, Eibhcar fionn and Amhirgin.' And during his rcsi- 40 BARDIC HISTORY deuce there, he got t^vclvc of his young men instructed in the principal arts of Egypt. — 'Milcsius at length reflected that Caichear, the priest, had long before prophesied to his ancestor Laimh fionn — Fair hand, that it must be in Ireland his posterity must obtain estab- lished sovereignty/^*^ ' He then equipt sixty ships, supplies them with crews and takes his leave of Pharaoh/ He landed on an island bordering on Thrace. It is called Irena, and it is there that I/-,^^ son of Milesius, was born. He thence proceeds to an island called Gothia, in the straight leading into the north ocean,^^ and he delayed there some time ; and there it was that Scota bore him a son, who was named Colpa,^!^ the swords- man. They moved thence into the North strait which separates Europe and Asia, and passed on leaving Europe on the left, till they arrived at the land of the Picts, named ^ Keating, p. 259. s? A name given to Ireland either by the Belgx or Danes. ® By Oothia the bard probably meant Golh-Iand, an island of the Baltic on the east coast of Sweden ; but as I am ignorant of the strait, mentioned in a few subsequent lines, which separates Europe from Asia, and of any course east of Europe, which could bring this family to Alba or Caledonia without sailing round the world, I submit this navigation to those, who may wish to amuse themselves with our bardic knowledge of gcograpliy. '^ Colpa 6r Colbdi, the ancient name of the harbour of Droghcda. OF IRELAND. 41 Alba. They spoiled the border of this coun- try, and proceeded after that, leaving Great Britain on the right, till they arrived at the mouth of the river Rhine; and S. W. with their left to France, and landed at length in Biscay. On his arrival ' his relations came to welcome Mileadh and disclose to him that the Gothi and many other foreigners wxre harassing the country and all Spain.' In consequence of this information, ' Milesius assembled his own adherents throughout Spain, marched at their head with the forces of the fleet he had led to the country, against the Gothi and foreigners, whom he defeated in fifty-four battles, so as to expel them out of Spain/90 'Y\ie old translation of Keating adds : ' by this means Milesius and his rela- tions, who were the family of Breogan,^^ the son of Bratha, became mastei^s of almost the whole kingdom of Spain/ Milesius 9° Keating, p. 261. «' Idem, p. 43. From this and similar passages in Keating's history, It appears that the Milesians, who were called clanna, or sliocht Bbreogbain, were the Brigantes of Ptolemy ; whom Ortelius fixes W. of Dublin, Ware in Waterford, Mercator in the S. E. part of Ireland, and the Irish bards in JLeinster and Conacht. The latter sites, including Aoibh Breogain, or the present county of Waterford, and Magh Breaha in Mcath, comprehend the first and subsequent settlements of the Brigantes, and of their allies and £otcmporary settlers, the Ccann-cangi of th« county Clare. G 42" BARDIC HISTORY had thirty-two sons, of whom Scota bore two, Eibhear in Egypt, and Eireanihon9» in Galicia; the remainder in other foreign countries. A scarcity of corn having happened during twenty-six years in Spain, on account of the great drought of the seasons, the family of Breogan reflected upon the numerous conflicts Avhich occurred between them and the Gothi, the prediction of the Druid Caichear; and, entering into consultation, they determined upon despatching Ith— Corn, the son of Breogan, in quest of the West isle. Some think ' Ith discovered the island in a starry winter night, with a telescope,93 from the top 9* The bard, having been ignorant of the real leaders of the Belgae and of the Brigantes, adopts the name of the principal Belgic tribe, the Eibbearni, to designate a feigned chieftain ; and that of EastManster, Ur or Oir Mumhan corrupted into Eir-cambon, in which a fortress had been erected, to denote a fictitious chieftain of the Brigantes. The bard having been equally ignorant of the supposed father of those heroes, denominates him either Galamh, which signifies a -warrior, — or Mileadb, a soldier j and, not having known that the Eibhearni were a Belgic tribe, and the Brigantes a Celtic one, he not only tlends those distinct families into one, but deduces both from the same immediate lineage. The predominance of the Belgs over the Celts of Ireland may, notwithstanding the blunder committed by the bards, in denominating the Brigantes a Scythian tribe, be inferred from the frequent mention of those Gothic names, Scota, Eibhear, Amhirgin, Caichear, &c. and from their conspicuous figure in Irish history. M The improbability of this story would have destroyed its credit, if It were not revived by the Rev. Mr, 0*Conor, who informs us through Strabo, OF IRELAND. 43 of the tower of Brigantia ; but it appears the inhabitants of both countries were know^n to each other long before Ith was born/ in consequence of Eochaidh^^^ the last king of the Fir Bolg, and son of Ere, having married Taillte, daughter of Magh-mor — the large plain, king of Spain. ' They used then on either side to practise traffic and commerce, that in a wonderful insulated tower In Spain, called the oracle of Meoestheus, the infracted rays of light, as if diffused into pipes, were magnified. In a note it is added, that this Menestheus was a general of the Athenians, in the Trojan war, who, on his return to Athens, was banished ; and that he passed into Spain. — Rerum Hibern. script, vet. c. O'Conor, p. 50.— Plutarch, however, on the contrary, informs us, that on Menestheus' return from the war of Troy, he died in the isle of Mclos in the Archipelago, A. M. 2871. It is therefore probable, as the primitive Celts of Gaul and Spain were an unlettered people, that the tower in question had been erected by, or in honor of, some other Menestheus, and in an age posterior to his. The Psalter of Cashel is quoted, through Keating, by Mr. O'Conor ; but Keating did not believe a word of the assertion ; nor does Strabo insinuate that an object could be seen over the convexity of the sea, at a distance of one hundred and fifty leagues. It is by no means improbable that the author of the Psalter of Cashel, or some previous Irish writer, had taken the hint from the account of Strabo. 0+ I am of opinion that the name Fodii or Udii, applied to that Belgic sept, which occupied part of the county Cork in the second century, was given by Ptolemy in imitation of some Eocbadh^ (pronounced Eoby or Yoby) who was their king. Keating seems to confirm the truth of this supposition, by informing us that the province of one of them, who was called Eochadb Ahbradb-ruaidh, extended from Cork to Limerick, and thence eastward, to the meeting of the three waters, or the abban Brcogain at Waterford. And, as an additional corroboration, the old translation of Keating, p. 6, informs us that 6nc of those Eochaidh's was surnamed Mumbo, implying that hi» territory was situated in Munstcr. 44 BARDIC HISTORY and an exchange of their wares and vahlablc^^ one with another; so that the Spaniards knew Eirin, and the Irish were acquainted with Spain/9-J ' Ith then prepared a ship, and it was manned with one hundred and fifty picked men; and sailed until they arrived in the north of Ireland/ at Magh Ithe.9^ ' As Ith landed, he sacrificed to Neptune. On this, some of the natives came, who conversed him in the Scotic language, i.e. in Gaoidhealg — Gailic, or Irish; and he answered them in the same tongue, and said, that he was descended of Magog, as thej were themselves, and that the Scotic language was his native tongue/ ' The historians, according to this passage in the Book of Conquests, assert that the Scotic language, called Gaoidhealg — Gailic, was the native tongue of Neimheadh — Poetry, and his people, and consequently of the Fir Bolg — Belgae, and also of the Tuath De Dandnn' — Damni. For Gaodhal son of Eathaoir — a Ship, instructed the Scy- thian youth, in the public schools, before Neimheadh — Poetry, began his voyage from 5* Keating, p. 265. 9° Magh Ithc, the plain of corn ; a territory in ih« county London-Dcrryf OF IRELAND. 45 Scytliia to Ireland; and the Irish tongue was the common language in Scythia, when Neimheadh came thence/97 Richard Creagh, primate of Ireland, in his book concerning the origin of the Gaelic and the Gaoidhil, says, * the Gaelic has been constantly used in Ireland since the arrival of Neimhead, six hundred and thirty years after the flood, until this day/ Ith was informed that the island was called Inis Ealga — the noble Island, and governed by three princes, sons of Chearmada mil- bheoil — the honey-mouthed human offspring, who were then quarrelling in Ulster about a number of jewels, (wealth, in the late trans- lation) which were left them in gavel. Ith marched with one hundred Gadelians to meet them; was courteously received and chosen umpire. On taking leave, however, he was suspected of a design to invade the island, and in consequence, Mac Coill — the son of the log or forest, was sent in pursuit with a force of one hundred and fifty men. A desperate battle was fought between them at INIagh Ithe — the plain of corn, or at 9? Consequently^ the Gothi were not Goths ! Keating p. 265. M) BAUDIC HISTORY Droimlighear, according to others. Itli died of liis wounds upon his return, and Milcsius died in Spain. 9^ The Milesians collected a force for the invasion of Ireland, and to revenge the murder of Ith. The total of their fleet was thirty ships, in each of which there were thirty warriors, besides their wives and at- tendants. The number of chieftains was forty, as we are informed by Eochadh ua Floinn, in a poem beginning with * The captains of the fleet that o'er tlie main,' &c. Their denominations taken from the names of mountains in Ulster, Leinster and Munster, are given by Keating ; and among them I find the following ones, which, I believe, are all Gothic ; viz. Seadhgha, Fulman, Mantan, Caichear,Siurge, Er,Orba, Fearann, Feargna, En, Un, Eatan,Goistean,Sobhairce, Eibhcar, Aimhirgin and Ir. Keating thinks the Brigantes of Britain descended from the family in Ireland, which s* Keating, p. 265. The retrograde genealogy to Noah follows, and i» traced, according to holy Cormac Mac Cuileannain, from Galamh — a Champion, through Celtic names signifying trees, plains, pitched bittlcs, champions, slaughter, antiquity, fair kncea and vrhite haodsj &c. OP IRELAND. 47 accounts for the many words of the same signification that are to be found in British and Irish : he also informs us, that *the Britons copied after the Irish, not only in their language, but in many of the polite customs and manners of that illustrious people.'99 Their fleet arrived at Inmhear Slain ge,^°° or Wexford harbour, thirteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, according to the chronology of Polychronicon, Cormac Mac Cuileannain and the Book of Invasions. The Tuatha De Danann assembled, and threw a magic mist over them, so that they imagined the island had the appearance of a pig's back, and hence Ireland is sometimes named Hog Island. The sons of Mileadh were then driven from the shore by the spells of the Tuatha De Danann, till they went round Ireland, and landed at Inmhear Sceine — the estuary of Kenmare, and, after they came ashore, they marched to Sliabh Mis, where » Keating, old trans, p. 50. Yet the maimers and customs of thc'Britons In the time of Julius Casar were those of savages ; and in that of Tacitus, they were indebted to the Romans, and particularly to Agricola, for that- degree of civilization which they then enjoyed. "^ The very name of this harbour is presumptive evidence that the Milesian poem was written after the seventh ccntuiy ; for in the second it was called Modonui by Ptolemy, and in the seventh, Moda by St. Adamnan. 48 BARDIC HISTORY l^anba and a })cautiful train ot' ladies and their Druids met tlieni. ' Aimhirgin asked her name : Banba is my name, said she, and it is from me this island is called Banba. Hence they moved to Sliabh Eibhlinne,"' Avhere Fodhla met them. ' Aimhirgin asked her name : my name is Fodhla, said she, and from me the country is called Fodhla. They thence moved to Uisneacli^°* in Meath, and here they were met by Eire. The sage asked her name : my name is Eire, said she, and from me this country is called Eire. These were the three wives of the sons of Cearmada.'^°3 The sons of Mileadh moved thence to Teamhair, where they were met by the three sons of Cearmada, at the head of their enchanted host. The sons of Mileadh demanded battle or a right settlement respect- ing the country, from the sons of Cearmada. They answered, that they would abide the decision of their own brother Aimhirgin, but declared, that if he would pronounce a false one, they would destroy him by magic. His decision was, that they should go back to the harbour of Sceine or Slaine, embark and *°* A mountain in Munatcr. '^ The county Longford. '°3 Keating, p. 291. OF IREL-AND. 4-9 set out nine waves to sea ; and that if they should eftect a landing in spite of the Tuatha De Danann, they should have the command of the country. This proposal was agreed to, and the Milesians complied with the injunction. The Druids of the Tuatha De Danann ' raised a violent storm by magic, which desperately agitated the sea, and Donn, son of Mileadh, pronounced that it was a magical wind; yes, says Amhirgin.'^®-* The storm destroyed Donn's ship, in which one hundred and four souls perished. Ir was also drowned, and buried in Sceilg Mhichil.^°-5 Eireamhon steered to Inmhear Colpa — Dro- gheda harbour, so called in commemoration of Colpa the swordsman, son of Mileadh, who was drowned there. Eibhear and his division of the fleet landed at Inmhear Sceine — the estuary of Kenmare — Cean mhara. In three days after landing, he met Eire the wife of Mac Greine — the Son of the Sun, on Shabh Mis,^°^ ' where fell Fas, wife of Un, '°* Keating, p. 291. '°i Idem. p. 293 — * whose shallow surface,' according to the old translation^ ' forcibly attracts every bird that flies over it.' The name of this rock, which was dedicated to Michael the Arch-angel, is a corroborating proof that the Milesian story was invented after the introduction of the Christian religion in Ireland. "^ A mountain withm seven miles of Tralce. Its summit is distin- guished by a fortification called Cathair Conraidb, which is supposed to be more than two thousand one hundred feet above tJic level of the bay. It H 50 BARDIC HISTORY soil of Ughe ; and from her the viile of Sliabli Alis is named Glean Fais/^°7 ' In the same battle fell Scota, the wife of Mileadh; and it is at the north of this vale she is buried, on the sea side/ The Gaoidhil in this battle sustained a loss of three hundred soldiers, but they killed one thousand of the Tuatha De Danann, and entirely routed their army. ' Eight ladies of qualit}^ also died at this time, Jimong whom was Sceine, from whom the estuary of Kenmare w^as called ; and Fial, wife Lughadh, son of Ith, died through shame, because her husband had seen her naked after returning from swimming : hence the river has been known ever since by the name of Inmhear Feile/^°^ Eibhear's forces marched on to Inmhear Colpa, and joined Eireamhon's. The com- bined army challenged theTuathaDeDanann is composed of loose stones, forming a rude wall fifteen feet in thickness, and in some parts nine in height. The wall runs about fifteen hundred feet diagonally across the summit, from one extremity to the other, forming with the verges of the hill an irregular triangle, within which the inaccessible parts of the mountain are included. About the centre of the wall, two passages, each about eleven feet wide, which, I suppose, were gateways, are left open ; — and inside the wall, six or eight square pits may be observed : these, my guide informed me, were, within, his recollection, twelve in number. This rude building is by some of the bards called a palace. ^ This lady is still commemorated by the inhabitants of a village situate at the basis of Sliabh Mis. They say she was buried in a neighbouring church-yard, called Cill-Eltain. "^ Keating, p. 297. OF IRELAND. 51 and they came to an engagement atTailtean, where the sons of Cearmada were entirely routed. Mac Greine — the son of the sun, Avas slain by Aimhirgin, Mac Coill — son of a log or wood, by Eibhear, and MacCeacht — son of the ploughshare, by Eireamhon — East Munster. Their three queens were also killed, namely Eire, Eodhla and Banba; three names of Ireland. The remains of the Tuatha De Dan4nn having been banished, Ireland became- the property of the Milesians.'^i^ The bards are unanimous in opinion, that it was divided between two of the sons of Mileadh ; but do not agree in the division. Some assign the north of Ireland from the Boyne — Boinn,"° to Eireamhon — East Munster, and the south from the Boyne"' to Eibhear (the Ibearni of Ptolemy.) This division is objected to by »» Keating, p. 301. "° O'Halloran's Hist, of Ireland, Introd. V. II. p. 102, or according to the Book of Invabions, Psalter of Cashel, Giolla Coamhain and Torna Eigis, from Aisgear Riada, the commercial causeway, to the north extremity of Ireland. "' Or, according to the above authorities, from Aisgear Riada southward, including the county Clare, and the other counties south of that line of road which extended from Galway to Dublin. The tradition of the first settlement of the Belgx in Ireland, is thus recorded ; and also in other parts of Kcating'j history, in which we are informed, that two provinces of Munster, which were called Deiiiol Eirionn, or the soutli of Ireland, were assigned to Eibhear. 52 BARDIC HISTORY Keating and otlicrs, because Eircamhon was known to possess the provinces of Leinster and Connacht. In confirmation of it, the royal palace of Eireamhon, which was called Rath Beathaidh, was situate at Airgeadrois, upon the side of the river Nore — Eoire, in Ossory — Osruighe. 'The province of Ulster was assigned to Eibhear, son of Ir, son of Mileadh, and to some other Milesian chiefs ; and the district of Corcalughaidh in Desmond — Deas-Mumhan, to Lughaidh, sonoflth. The province of Ulster"* was also known to be occupied by Rtighraidhe, son of Sithrighe, a descendant of Eibhear, son of Ir. Hence the name of Clanna R{ighiaidhe is given to the real Ultonians, and all their descendants, who went into the different provinces for the sake of conquest ; for instance the expedition of the ClannaUughraidhe into Leinster, i.e. the descendants of Conuill Chearnuigh, who w^ent into Leix— Laoighis ; the posterity of Feargusa Mac Roigh, who settled in Conmhacne in Conacht, and in Corcamruadh and Kerry — Ciaruldhe, in Munster ; the family of Dwyer — Duibhidhir, of the race of Cairbre Cluith- "* This dJvi»ion alludes to the tradition of the emigration of the Eibhearni of Ptolemy from the south to the north of Ireland. OF IRELAND. 53 eachair, son of Conchorb, e^c. who came from Leinster into Munster.* ' But it was long after Eibhear and Eireamlion had divided Ireland, that these tribes removed from their own conntries into other parts of the island. It is evident also, that it was in the time of Muireadhaig Thirigh, that the three Co//«, with their relations, went from Conacht to seek settlements in Ulster, where they seized upon a great part of the province Mourne, viz. — Modharn or Mor rinn, Ui mac Uais and Ui Chriomhthainn, where many of their posterity still remain; as Reginald — Raghnall, earl of Antrim, the Maguires — Maghuidhir, Mac Mahons — Magh-mathghamhna, OHanlon's — UaHanluain, with their several branches." 'The descendants of Cormac Gaileang, who were some of the posterity of Eibhear, came into Conacht, namely, the Gailenga, the Looneys — Luighne, from whom the O'Haras — Ua Heaghra, and the O'Garas — Ua Gadhra/"^ Five of the principal chieftains attended Eireamhon — East Munster, or the Brigantes, to his part of the country. Five also went "3 Keating, p. 305.— This part of the bardic history throw* considerable light upon the conquest} and emigration of the Bclgic septs. 54 BARDIC HISTORY ^vitli Eibhear (the Iberni of Ptolemy), namely Caichear, Mantan, Eim, Oige and Fulinan."^ ' Eibhear and Eireamhon reigned for one year, till a dispute arose between them about the possession of the three most fertile hills in Ireland/"^ In this battle Eibhear was defeated. During Eireamhon's reign Caicher was slain by Aimhirgin ; and the year after the latter was murdered by his brother Eireamhon, who in three years after killed Eulman and Mantan."^ ' Some antiquaries assert, that it was Eireamhon that divided Ireland into four provinces after the death of Eibhear. First, he gave the province of Leinster to Chriomhthain Sciathbheal, a nobleman of the Eir Bolg; — "■* The Gothic tribes which settled in the south and south-east of Iieland, were in some period of the Belgic history probably known to the Celts by those names ; for they agree exactly in point of number with Ptolemy's Belgic tribes or septs. His amount to seven ; those of the bards to six, beside the Lucd na Sionna, or the Belgaa of the Shannon, and all nearly agree in names. I suppose the Cauci to he meant by the appellation Caichear ; the Menafni by Mantan ; the Iberni by Eibhear; the Vodii or Uodli by Eochaidh (pronounced Eohy) ; the Lucent or Luc-sce-na by the Lucd na Sionna. The Coriondii were probably known by the name of a chieftain, Fulman, and also by Corunnaigh ; and the Velaborl or Vel-i-ber-i (a sept of the Iberni) by that of another chieftain, Eun, and by the appellation Siol Ebhir. In another part of this history I shall endeavour to account for the difference of opinion which prevailed among the bards relative to the division of territories. "S Keating, p. 307. "« Idem, p. 311. OF IRELAND. 55 the province of Munster to tlie four sons of Eibhear, namel}^, Er, Orba, Feoronn and Feargna; the province of Conacht to Un, (son of Uige) and to Eatan, two chiefs who attended him from Spain ; the province of Ulster in Hke manner he left to Eibhear, his brother Ir's son/"7 It was in the reign of Eireamhon that the Cruitnigh — Picts, a people of Thrace, ac- cording to Cormac Mac Cuilean^in, arrived, not in the north of Ireland, as Bede asserts, but in Wexford harbour. Except a few, who settled at Breaghmaigh in Mealh, they were compelled to steer to Caledonia, by Eireamhon."^ After a reign of fourteen years, Eireamhon died in Rath Beathaidh, on the bank of the Nore — Eoir,"9 at Airgeadrois, and A.M. 27o2, his three sons, Muimhne — Munster, Luighne — Barony of Leny, and Laighne — Leinster, possessed the sovereignty. Munster died, and Leny and Leinster were slain in the third year by the sons of Eibhear/^° A.M. 2755 ' Eun, Orba, Fearanand Feargna, the four sons of Eibhear, held the sovereignty "7 Keating, p. 31,3. 'is i^^^^^ ^ gj^, "» Trans, of the Royal Irish Acad, V. \o. Mixt. of Fable and Fact, p. 15. '^Keating, p. 3 19. 5(j BARDIC HISTORY of Ireland but one year, and were slain by Irial the pro})het/ A.M. 27SG, Conn maol — C. the bald, son of Eibhear, ruled thirty years. He was the first king of the line of Eibhear, and fought twenty-five battles against the race of Eirea- mhon ; in each of which, according to the old translation, he proved victorious."' The remainder of Keating's history is taken up, by way of episode, with tlxi bursting forth of rivers and lakes, and the clearing plains from trees. Battles are stated to have been fought between the descendants of Heber and Hereinon, generally with alternate suc- cess, although the power of the latter was diminished by the defection of a party of the Brigantes, who went over to Heber, or the Eibhearni ; by the departure of a great number whomHeremon sent with theTuatha De Danann, and the Picts, into Scotland — Caledonia; and bj^the banishment of others."* The theatre of w^ar extended chiefly from Conacht through Munster to Leinster. »» Keating, p. 63. ••* p. 105. The old translation informs us, that the Milesian soldiery in process of time degenerated Into a barbarous and rebellious race. They were not only seditious but inhuman toward their princes ; for ' which practices, the monarchs by degrees weeded them out of the kingdom.* OF IRELAND. 57 Such is the History of Ireland, as it is faith- fully compiled from Bardic Songs. Though clouded with fable, a glimmering light appears through the obscurit}^ of the narration, which illumines a considerable part of Ptolem3''s map of Ireland. The mixture of fable evinces the simple and uneducated state of the human mind in those days of barbarism. And the obscurity of the relation may be accounted for, from the circumstance of the bardic history having commeaced long after the planting of the first tribes, when their tradition became confused both as to the tim^e of emigration and the countries whence they came. The confusion w^as also increased by different bards having, irom time to time, resumed the history-, revised and altered it, according to the taste of the times and the vanity of their patrons. Keating informs us^*-5 that at one period the poets and bards of Ireland amounted to one thousand, two hundred in number; and surely the population must have been very 'M p. 14 and 30, I 58 BARDIC HISTORY thin, -when they are said to have constituted a third of the inhabitants of this isle. Every chieftain retained a certain number of them to record the actions of liis family, and each principal bard commanded a retinue of thirty poetic dependants. This author adds,"* that the houses of bards were considered as sanctuaries : their persons were sacred, their property inviolable, exempt from plunder and taxes. And notwithstanding the enjoj^ment of lands in fee simple, and the privilege of being billeted upon the inhabitants, from All- hallow-tide till May, the}^ were paid for every poem they composed by those who employed them. Their idleness and avarice, joined probably with their disgusting adulation and satire, provoked the people at different times to petition for their banishment. The first settlers in Ireland were Gaill, — a name generally spelled Gaoill. They were savages unacquainted with agriculture, and probably ignorant even of the use of clothes. — They occupied temporary wretched huts within their duns or fortresses, whose ramparts were raised upon hills, or in the bosom of woods. While this infant society lived in ■^ Keating, p. !>■). OF IRELAND. 59 the interior of this island, and wandered about with their herds and flocks, according as some parts became depastured and others invited to fertile plains, some time must have elapsed before bards could be encouraged to describe their petty chieftains as a highly polished, martial and enlightened race ; still less to celebrate their ancestry. In process of time, however, herds and flocks increased in number ; population grew apace, property became of value, and com- merce was managed by the commutation of wares. The idle, ambitious and needy coveted the possessions of the wealthy. The right of jneum et tuum was decided by the sword, and the victorious chieftain seized upon the herds and territories of the vanquished. The abundance of food thus obtained, and the want of specie, must have naturally pro- duced hospitahty ; and those guests were preferred, who, in poetic strains, were best qualified to clothe vice with the garb of virtue, and who possessed the knack of speciously deducing the lineage of savage chiefs from fictitious celebrated heroes, or renowned kings. The chief merit of Irish metrical composition seemed to consist not f)0 UAKDIC IIISTOIIV in the narration of prolnibility or truth, but ni supernatural achievements, or in extravagant panegyric ; and the expected applause of the auditory operated as a premium for fiction and rhapsody. In gleaning facts from such productions, the Irish historian must have some beacon in view — a sort of polar star to guide reason through this wild and pathless region of ro- mance. And it fortunately happens that the light reflected from the east, through Caesar's Comnlentaries, Tacitus' Life of Agricola, the Map of Ptolemy, and the works of other foreign writers, blending with the rays twink- ling from our bardic history, tend to dissipate that almost sjeneral darkness which concealed the first settlers in this isle. Richard of Ciren Chester, a priest of the fourteenth cen- tury, one of the most learned historians of his time, has also contributed considerably to its evanescence. These and other w^riters afford materials which are, for the most part, developed in the laborious researches of Whitacre and Ledwich ; two divines who, guided by this combined illumination, have in the investigation of truth, opened new views to the eye of the historian. OF IRELAND. 6l To enable the reader to judge indalgentl)^ of this novel attempt to reconcile the bardic Irish tribes to those of Ptolerny, the author hopes it will be considered that Ptolemy was a Greek Avriter, who had acquired his knowledge of Ireland through Roman traders. And, consequently, his attempts to convey the Celtic and Gothic pronunciation of the names of tribes cannot be expected to be free from error. However, making due al- lowance for his opportunities of information, the denominations may be truly said to be, like the outline of his map, surprisingly accurate. an Snquirp COyCERNIi<0 THE PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS aiBISILiiiTID. JLreland, one of the denominations of this island, is a compound word, composed of the Gothic syllables ir and land ; of which the first syllable is probably a Gothic imita- tion of the Celtic iar or er — the west/^-^ It might have received this appellation, which is less ancient than the name Eire or Eirhi, from its Belgic inhabitants, among whose family, the Danes, Norwegians and Anglo- Saxons, it was anciently the usual appellative and is still continued. Eh^e or Eiriti, the "5 In the Annals of Inisfalltn, which were compiled in the thirternth century, Irclaiul is called lir. 61 INQUIRY INTO THE pniiiitive appellation, which is yet in use ainonu: those inhabitants who converse in Irish, is that by which it is designated by the most ancient foreign writers who have noticed this island. It is composed of iar or er — the west, and of i or i)i — an island."*^ And this name was probably given by those Celtic emigrants from Britain, who had first settled in Ireland, and ascertained its insular state, as well as its relative position. The most ancient foreign authors who men- tion Ireland, are Julius Caesar and Diodorus Siculus."^ The former calls it Hibernia, a word latinized in imitation of aoihh or ibh-eir-in — the territory of the \\'est isle. It is pronounced eev-er-in ; but with an aspirate and Latin termination, it probably sounded to foreign ears thus, Heev-er-iiia or Hee-ber-nia. Dionysius Periegetes, in the third year, and Strabo, about the year 20 of the Christian aera, term it iie,vn — I-er-ne. PomponiusMela, A. D. 44, and Juvenal, A. D. 82, call it '^ Vid. the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Mist, of Fable and Fact, v. XIII, Part I, p. G. "7 As to the pretended quotations from Himlico the Carthaginian, they may be at least doubted. The work ascribed to Orpheus of Crotona, is certainly spurious ; and Aristotle's treatise, De MunJo, is supposed to have been written about the reign of Augu=.tus, PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. ^5 Juv-er-na,"^ apparently in imitation of the Celtic pronunciation, ihh or eev-er-in — the country of Er-in. In the second century, Ptolemy calls it ini^nx — Iv-er-ni-a ; in the third, Marcianus Heracleotes denominates it luv-er-ni-a, and in the fourth, Claudian calls it I-er-ne. Most of those writers seem to have been led into error by Caesar, who was the first that introduced the consonant n in the penul- timate syllable. By Dioscorides, an author of the first century, it is properly denominated Hib-er-i, and in the epistle to Caroticus, which is ascribed to St. Patrick, Ibh-eir-i-a. Considering the rude and ill-shaped vessels of antiquity, the infant state of navigation, the distance of other countries from Eirin, it is unlikely that this remote west isle had re- ceived its early inhabitants from any country farther distant than Gaul. On the other hand, it may be fairly inferred, from the vicinity of Britain to Eirin, the abundant population of the former island in the time of Julius Caesar, its state of government, the consequent fre- quency of internal war, conjoined with the shifting pastoral life of its Celtic inhabitants"? "8 Sat. 2, 1. 3. '^ Cxs. de bcl. Gal. 1. ."j, s. H, Interiores pleriquc frumcJita non serunt «cd lactc ct came yivunt. K 66 INQUIRY INTO THE and with their ignorance ot" agriculture and of the arts, that the first settlers in Eirin Avere a part of the redundant population of Britain. These tribes arrived here either in quest of pasture for their cattle, or as fugitives from the devastation of war. Those reasons considered with the savage character, which ancient foreign writers bestow upon Ireland, induce me to believe that they had emigrated from Britain even earlier than the Rev. l\Ir. Whitaker asserts. And, as we have no authentic map of Eirin prior to the second century of the Christian aera, nor any au- thentic account of its inhabitants, prior to the first century before the Incarnation, it necessarily follows, if this supposition be well grounded, that those first settlers are unknown to history. In ages after the British Gaill had planted themselves in Eirin, this isle received other tribes, which differed from them in language, manners and customs. And as some of these emigrated from Gaul, which was chiefly oc- cupied with Celtic inhabitants, it becomes necessary to notice their relative situation, prior to the Roman invasion of that country. Without indulging in conjecture, or relying rniMITIVE INHABITANTS. &7 implicitly upon the accounts of ancient his- torians, it may be safely asserted, that both the Celts and Goths had in very remote times emiorated from the east toward the west.^^o The Celtae moved first, the Goths followed in the rear ; and these, it appears, were pursued by the Sclavi or Venedi, a family^^i which differed from the latter, in language and manners, as widely as the latter were, in these respects, dissimilar from the first. The Celts continued their emigration until they arrived in the west of Europe, where they planted themselves in Gaul and Spain. The Goths took possession of Germany, whence the}' sent colonies throughout Scandinavia, Denmark, Iceland, the Orkneys, &€. Prior •*> These families, though distinct, are confounded in Grecian and Roman history. Thus ; the inhabitants of Germany are not only denominated Celtt, which was the proper name of the Gauls ; but both are absurdly called Cimbri, after a small Gothic tribe, which occupied part of the peninsula of Jutland. Cimber signifies in Gothic a robber, and as the Teutones and Gauls were probably competitors in plundering acts, they acquired the name of the most distinguished robbers. The Rev. Mr. Whitaker, from the affinity of names, considers the Sicambri, who were seated in Geldria, as a Cimbric Sept; but these were a German tribe, known from others by the name oi fghUrt for victory ; t'lgh, victory, camper, a combatant. The ancients, in the opiaion of Mr. Pinkerton, were unacquainted with the north beyond the 52°; and' they were so ignorant of the manners and languages of the Goths and Celts as to believe both to be the same people. *^ Among other nations the Russians arc dtScendant» of those Sclavonlam. 08 INQUIRY INTO THE to tlie invasion of Gaul by Julius Cvjesar, the Rhine separated those two great nations from each other. The Celtpe, Gelta?, Caill or Gail), synoniinous appellations, which, as Mr. Whitaker asserts, probably mean wood- landers, occupied at first all Gaul ; but in the time of Julius Caesar, the Belgee, Gothic tribes from Germany, were seated upon the west bank of that river, which they Avrested from the Celts, probably long before his arrival. As Gaul became populous, and land of value, some tribes became powerful at the expense of others. The result of frequent wars enabled the strong to seize upon the possessions of the weak, who, in consequence, were compelled to seek territories elsewhere. The narrow straits of Dover invited those unhappy fugitives, as well as those, who led an errant pastoral life, to an island presenting pasture and abounding with game. There the only enemies, to contest dominion, were probably the wild beasts which reposed within the umbrage of extensive forests. Such an island, so contiguous to a country abundantly stocked with inhabitants, could not long remain unexplored. And the fact is evinced. nilMlTIVE INHABITANTS. 69 atiiong other circumstances, by tlie populous state of Britain; by the ignorance of its inhabitants, with regard to their ancestry,^^* and by the occupation of Eirin in the time of Juhus Caesar. A variety of circumstances enable us to trace the Gallic posterity into Britain. The similarity of genius,'33 the Celtic cunning, curiosity, credulity, and desire of novelty ; the same rashness in running into danger, the same consternation when in it.'^'^ Both originally wore their hair long, and a beard upon the upper lip. Their languages were similar, their religion and superstitious rites the same.^^^ The form of their houses was rotund. '^^ Their implements of husbandry and arms, including the military chariot, whose wheels were armed with scythes, were '•i^ Tac. Agric. S. 11. Ceterum Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerint, 'ndigcnae an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum. '^ Strab. Geog. v, 1. p. 305. Ingenio Gallorum partim similes sunt. ^* Tac. Agric. S. II. In deposcendis periculis eadem audacia, & ubi advenere, in detractandis eadem formido. — Et Strabo, p. 302. de Gallis loquens : — intolerabiles sunt ubi vincunt, & ubi vincuntur, plane consternati '■JJ Tac. Agr. S. II. Eorum sacra deprehendas, superstitionum persuasione : sermo baud multum diversus. ^ C»8 do beL Gal. 1. 5. S. 1 0,— creberrlmaque adificia fere Gallicis consimilia. And Strabo, speaking of the Gauls; donios c tabidij & cratib\i» comtruunt rotunda*. 70 INQUIRY INTO THE the sarne in both countries. '37 But the Britons Avere clad in skins,^^? ^nd were more simple and barbavous/39 because thej emigrated before their Celtic and Belgic ancestors had better clothing, and before the Gauls were partly civilized by the Greeks of Marseilles, and the Romans of Narbonne. Beside those corresponding circumstances, which evince the identity of family, the traditional names by which they were known to their neighbours, may be adduced as corroborating evidence. The Germans, who substituted the letter w for g, always called those Gauls, who occupied the west side of the Rhine, TFallish, — a denomination equivalent with Gallish, a word corrupted from GailL They even bestowed the same name upon their own countrymen the Long- hear ds, because they happened to settle in Gallia Transalpina, since denominated after them, Lombardy; a territory which previously belonged to the Gauls. Those W7 Whit. Manches. — The Gauls were indebted to the Persians, probably through the Greeks of Marseilles, for this military chariot. '38 Cks. dc bel. Gal. 1. 5. S. 10, — pellibusque sunt vcstiti. '39 Strab. Geog. V. L p. 305, — partim simpliciores & magis barbari, adeo ut quidam eorum ob imperitiam caseos nullos conficiant, cum tanien lacte abundent. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 71 Long-beards had, in consequence of famine, been expatriated the north of Germany about A. D. 384. Those Saxons also, who occupied part of the coast of the Cimbric Chersonesus, called the opposite Britons, whom the north sea separated from them, Wallish, or Brit- Wallish, when they wished to discriminate them from other Gauls ; and they nominated the island Brit-JValUsh-Iand. And, after they subdued the Britons, and drove those, who had not previously emigrated from the island, into Wales and Corn-wall,'^© they still con- tinued the ancient denomination of Wallish or Weallas, for those fugitives, — and that of Weallas-land and Corn-weallas, afterward contracted into Wales and Corn-wales, for those mountainous districts. The Belgae of the Netheilands also called the French tongue IVals, and the inhabitants of Henalt and Artois were nominated Wallen or Wallons, and their provinces Wals-land ; — names synonimous with Gals, G alien. Gallons or Gaill. On the other hand, the Gothic letter w is changed HO Trans, of the Royal Irish Acad. V. 15. On the Mixt. of Fable and Fact, p. 27. — Cornwall was anciently denominated Domnonia from the Damnonii or Bclgic tribes who occupied it. On their emigration to Ireland that territory kchm to have been left vacant. 72 INQUIRY INTO THE in old French into g or gu ; hence the word zi'cird was expressed by gard, warre, guerre, Weallas, Gaulles, Corn-weallas, Cornu- gaulles,^4i &c. This primitive denomination Gaill or Caill, which we have already traced through all the points of the compass, from south to north, and from east to west, was transported to Eirin with the British Celtic posterity. Here the only change, which a long course of centuries effected in it among the Irish and Alban Scots, consists only in the substitution of e for i. They, for instance, call themselves Gael;^^^ but foreigners, among whom they include the English, Gaoill or Gaill. It may be inferred from the commutability of the letters c and g among the Celts, and of K, c and g, among the ancient Grecian writers, who call them KeAT«<, that the Gauls, originally, denominated themselves Coill or Coillte, pronounced Keel and Keelte, from the Celtic name for woods in which they lived. This opinion receives some support from the '^ Mixt. of Fable and Fact, p. 27. '■^ The bardic corruption of this name has been already explained and accounted for. The Irish are coriectly called Gael, by the author of a tract upon the Danish wars in Ireland, the title of which is, ' Cogadh Gael re Gallabh,* The Wars of the Irish against the Foreigners. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 73 name Caledonia, Avhether it be derived, according to Mr. James Macpherson, from Cael and dock — a region, Cael and tan — a country, or, according to Mr.Whitaker, from Caled-on — woods. A Gaul in Irish is called CeaLtach, and a wood, coill, is in the ablative pronounced gaoill, as in a ccoill diamhair — in a dark wood. The name of this people is metaphorically used with different meanings. Gal means warfare, and, as if valour, gaZ-ac/t, had exclusively been an attribute of the Celts, it is thus implied in their national name. As a family distinct from the Goths and Sclavi, individuals seemed to consider themselves connected by a general tie of consanguinity . in consequence, the word gal or gaol, literally a Gaul, is generally used to denote a relation ; as Jea?' gaoil — a kinsman, brathair Gdoil, (literally, brother Gaul) mean a man of the same tribe ; and hichd gaoil, literally, the Gallic people, signify kindred. Yet, close as the relation was between a son and his parents, brothers and sisters, there are no Avords in the Celtic language, distinct from those, which appear to be derivatives from the Latin language, to express this consanguinity. Thus, athair — L 74r INQUIllT INTO THJi a father, secins to be derived from ^^atcr ; mdthair — a mother, from mater ; hra'thair — a brother, irom. f rater ; shir — a sister, from soror. And if we reflect that, among the ancient Romans, the letter b was sometimes used in place of/i and that, among the Irish, the letter h is merely an aspirate, the Celtic names for father, mother, brother, may be considered as pure Latin, and that for sister, the Celtic abbreviation of soror. And this opinion, which was formed from the affinity observable between the derivatives and the Latin, is strengthened; not only by tho general mode of life of this uncultivated family, but, by the promiscuous intercourse which subsisted among the private huddled families of Britain and Ireland. '"^^ Beside the traditional testimony of the Germans and French, and the opinion of Tacitus relative to the origin of the Britons, ^*^ J. Cxsar, 1.5, sect. 10, — Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes ; & maxime fratres cum fratribus, & parentes cum liberis : sed si qui sunt ex his nati, eorum habentur liberi, a quibus plurimum virgincs quaeque ductx sunt. And tlie account of the Irish, which Strabo gives from report, is not improbable, for it agrees with that which Julius Caesar gives of their ancestors. Strab. Geogr. v. I. p. 307, — et pro honesto ducunt — palam concubere non cum aliis modS mulieribus, scd ctiam cum matribus ac sororibus, x«) ftnr^i^i nai aiiX^Kif, 'f-RIMlTIVE INHABITANTS. 7^ we have the declaration of some of the most ancient and respectable foreign authors, relative to that of the Irish. Aristotle (if the work ascribed to him be his) is quoted by some as an author who denominates Ireland a British isle.^^'^ Diodorus, about fifty-eight years before the Incarnation, called the inha- bitants of Ireland, British : ^<^^ii "«' rm B^i^xmv nti xetToiKftyrcti Tcfofca^o fiiw i^fv. Aud tlic islaiid Is tcrmcd British, in the first century, by Dionysius Periegetis^^j and Pliny; in the second, by Ptolemy and Apuleius ; in the third, by Marcianus Heracleotes ; in the fourth, by St. Chrysostom ; and, in the fifth, by Saint Prosper. Isacius calls it West Britain :'46 i^ what age I have not been able to ascertain. If this information had been communicated by the bards, the probability of the narra- tive would strike the mind with conviction, although their authority, with respect to *** De Mtindo.— 'En riru yi fitv yrifot fityiiain Tt/y^^^avniriv rnrxi 3i/» '■*' — Siifai Si zf^orifufft SpiraviSts iifi vorovSi, AiffrZv rot fi.iyi^®' fifiuffiov . ri f^iv iir r.u KXril^irai 'AXtiuv, it St w^«f iufff^ov 'lipvn. Lib. 1072. '♦' Theat. Geeg. Vet. P. B. Bevero. Nomine Britanniae occidentali* •tm cclebrat Iiacius in Lycophronem. 76 INQUIRY INTO THE antiquity, may be justl}^ questioned ; but as it is imparted by ancient ai'd unpreju- diced writers of learning and character, their concurring affirmation cannot be reasonably doubted by modern historians. In subsequent parts of this Inquiry I shall endeavour to prove that most of the tribes of Ireland came from Britain ; that the fortifications Avith, or without, souterrains, and the form of their houses, were similar ; that both used the Celtic language, the same arms, and mode of life; that the form of their letters was originally the same ; and, that the Irish posterity continued the same religious worship which was adopted in Gaul and Britain. — Even now, after the lapse of ages, so striking is the resemblance in man- ners between this posterity and the Gallic ancestry, that one, acquainted with the Irish character, cannot read Julius Ca;sar's Commentaries, without perceiving several traits in the manners of the ancient Gothic and Celtic Gauls, which are common among the present lower order of the Irish. PEI.MITIVli IXHABITAXTS. 77 THE ORIGIN OF THE APPELLATIONS SCOTIA, SCOTI, SCUIT, AND SCUIT-LAND. This island having been denominated by foreign authors Scotia, and the inhabitants Scoti or »Scz/47 from the third to the fifteenth century, those Gothic names induced Mr. Ledwich to indulge in conjecture relative to a Scandinavian origin, and the bards to invent a history founded, partly, upon infor- mation gleaned from Josephus, and, partly, upon a play upon the name Scotia. This late respectable author asserts, that *it is more than probable, that Scythian colonies did arrive here before the Incarnation.^'*^ 'The Scots issued from Scandinavia, and were named by our Fir Bolgs, Scutten, the Welsh Y Scot ; expressing in their respective languages Scythians and Scots/^49 — 'And the Scot-bhearla, according to Irish historians, was the vernacular one of the Nemethians. All grant these were a Scythian or Teutonic '•♦' By Porphyry in the third, ^thicus in the fourth, Prosper and Oro»iu» in the fifth centuries, and subsequently by Gildai, Ncnius, Alfred, &c. '^ Antiquities of Ireland, page i.'1. '•♦' Eadem, page 11. 78 INQUIRY INTO THE colony. Tliey were probabl}^ the people of Worms, called Nemetes, and were seated about Spire and Mentz/^^° Irish writers, on the other hand, are unani- mous in asserting, that the Normans never arrived in Ireland before the eighth centur3\ And their assertion is supported by foreign authors. INIr. Pinkerton too says the ancients were unacquainted with the north, beyond the 52°. The Britons, according to Tacitus, knew nothing of their origin. They were barbarians for a century after the time of Julius Caesar, and until Agricola had prevailed upon the nobility to suffer their children to be instructed in Roman learning. Even so late as the time of Bede, no memorials were left relative to their history. With regard to a Scandinavian descent upon the coasts of Ireland before the eighth century, all foreign historians are silent. And those writers of the fourth, fifth and sixteenth centuries,^-^^ whom Mr. Ledwich quotes, do not support his conjecture further than in erroneously asserting that the Picts, whom the Scots usually joined in their predatory excursions, '^ Antiquities of Iff land, page 1 5. '^ lumcncsi Sidoniui Apollinnris, Claudiui and Aventinuj. ^ PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 79 were a Saxon people, as well as the Scots. As to the Scot-bhearla, by which the Gaiiic or Irish language is meant, it differs in every respect from the Gothic, which was the language of every German colony, the Belgai of Ireland excepted. ^^* With regard to the figurative Nemethians — micNeimidhe, whom Mr. Ledwich fixed about Spire and Mentz, and called a Scythian colony, they are understood, by one of the best Irish Scholars of this day, merely to mean ' the offspring of poetry. '^^^ This island having been originally deno- minated Eirin, and its inhabitants Eirinigh^ the people of Eirin ; or Gaill, Gauls, many amused themselves with wild conjectures, but only a few had the curiosity to inquire why the Celtic names had given place to the Gothic denominations, Scotia or Scuit-land, for Ireland, and Scoti or Scuit, for its inha- 'S» And the descendants of the Irish Scot! and the Icelandic Cimbri of the Isle of Man, who speak the Manks, a tongue half Gothic and half Celtic. The Codex Lecanus states that the Belgaid, which must have been a Gothic dialect, had been spoken in Ireland, It was probably used by the Belgse for some time after their arrival ; but, owing to the comparative paucity of their population, it never became general in Ireland, nor continued long in use, even zmong this Gothic family. See Mixture of Fable and Fact, from p. 19 to 21. '« Mixture of Fable and Fact, page 12. 80 INQUIRY INTO THE ]>itants. This alteration of names may be thus accounted for : The Belgae of Britain were traders in the time of Juhus Caesar; and those of Ireland in that of Tacitus, who informs us, that the harbours of Ireland were better known to merchants than those of Britain. But, this commerce seems to have been of short duration. It probably did not continue much longer than one century ; for, during almost the whole time of the Roman power in Britain, their intercourse with that isle was of a hostile nature. Leagued with the Picts, the Belga3, in consequence of piratical excursions, became known to the Romans, in the third century, as the predominant inhabitants of this island. And, at this time, it is probable, their manners, language, dress and arms denoted them to be Goths. As the Saxons had during the same time made frequent descents upon the east coast of Britain,^-54 it was natural to infer that the 'J* According to PanciroUus, an author of the sixteenth century, two Roman generals were appointed to prevent the incursions of the Picts, Scots and Saxon pirates. One called Dux Britanniarum, commanded H,')00 foot and you horse : his duty was to guard against the joint inroads of the first and second people. The other, to whom the care of the cast and south coasts was committed, commanded 5,000 foot and 6c0 horse, and he was called count of the Saxon coast, comet littorh Saxonid. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. Si Scots, who were of the same family, had emigrated from some part of Scandinavia. The Gaill, who were, as IMr. Pinkerton describes them, a simple and innocuous peo- ple, appear to have been partially subdued by this martial race, as early as the third century. Their name, and that of their country were confined to themselves. But the only inhabitants of this isle, who seem to have attracted the notice of British, Roman, and other foreign writers, wxre the enter- prising Belgas, whom, as Goths or Scythians, they denominated Scoti — Scuit. Hence the origin of the name Scuit-lajicI, applied by the Saxons to Ireland ; hence the latin name Scotia ; hence also the appellations Scuit,^^^ Scutten, ScJiieteii, latinized into Scoti, and given by other nations to the Scythians, had been transferred to those piratical Belgae of Ireland. Accordingly, the inhabitants of Ireland arc denominated Scots, by Porphyry in the third century, by St. Ambrose, Claudian, Ammianus Marcellinus and iEthicus in the fourth ; by Orosius and St. Prosper in the fifth ; by Gildas in the sixth ; by Isidore and St. A'men or archen, from the Gothic jiot or duf, a dart or arrow ; hence the Iriih /««/, a word of the same import, M 82 INQUIRY INTO THE eighth; and by Nennius and Alfred the great in the ninth. And so early as the fourth, their dominion, according to iEthicus, extended, even to the Isle of Man, which, Orosius says, belonged to them in his time also. The predominant power of the Belgae in Ireland induced several authors to quote the following- line from Propertius, as evidence that the ancient Irish were descendants of the Getae, a savage, Gothic people, who dwelled on the banks of the Danube : " Hibernique Getx pictoque Britannia curru ;" which is understood to mean — the Irish Getce and Britain with her painted chariot. This line is amply discussed in the Essay on the Mixture of Fable and Fact, and reasons are assigned tending to prove that Propertius and other Latin writers used the word Hiberni merely as expressive of shivering or frigid objects. The late General Vallancey has had the merit of discovering the affinity between several Irish words and similar ones in oriental languages. That discovery applies equally to the ancient Gallic and British dialects, because they were the same, or nearly the same, as the dialect of Ireland. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 83 This affinity in language, and a conformity of manners and customs with those of eastern nations, evince that the Celts and Goths were of eastern orio;in. Does it hence follow that the Irish solely, but not their Gallic or British family, should have taken, even a second time, according to the bards, the supposed long and circuitous route from Scythia to Spain, before they reached Erin ? Having endeavoured to prove that the opinions relative to Scandinavian origin are groundless, I shall proceed to the considera- tion of the different tribes which anciently occupied the soil of Ireland. OF THE FIRST SETTLERS IN IRELAND, WHO ARE NOTICED BY HISTORY. The first Inhabitants of Ireland are probably not recorded :'^^ they arrived long before historians, learning, or letters were known in these sister isles ; but the first authentic tribe 'S" As the Voluntii, Brigantes or Belgae had not arrived in Ireland when Diodorus wrote, nor, perhaps, the Gallic emigrants from Armorica, it if proliablc that this isle must have then contained some tribes beside the DamnI, who *eem to have been confined to a small part of the north of Ireland. And those, as Mr. Whitakcr observes, might have been driven hither by the Belgx three hundred and fifty years before the Christian «ra. 84 INQUIRE INTO THE or sept, Avhich is noticed in Irish history, passed over from the opposite coast of Caledonia. These settlers were THE DAMNII, — CALLED BY THE IRISH TUATHA DE DANANN. In the second century, according to Ptolemy, but probably long before, the Damni occu- pied the present Carrick, Cunningham and Renfrew, part of Kyle and part of Clydesdale in Caledonia ; and in the same age, a sept of them was described by Ptolemy, as residents in the county of Colerain or London-Derry. This sept is erroneously called by Ptolemy, who either mistook the orthoepy, or was misinformed, Darnoi or Darinoi ; but correctly by the bards Danann or TuathaDe Dandnn,*" — the Damnian gentry of the liver Dee. This sept was induced by the short passage across the north channel, and by predatory motives, to dwell in the vicinity of their countrymen, friends and allies, the ancient Britons or Picts. AVith this view they settled upon the opposite Irish coast,^^^ whither an embassy '^ In the Annals of Inisfallen, which were written in the thirteenth century, this tribe is called Tuatha Den. '^ Ogyg. p. 1 4. Quemadmodum Danannas a nostris traduntur in aquilonari Hibernia appulisse. — Theae arc confounded by the Rev. Mr. O'Conor with the Damnonian Bclga:. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 85 from Caledonia, to join in predatory excur- sions against the south Britons, would be soon received. According to Ortelius' and Mercator's edition of Ptolemy's map, the Damni appear to have left their first position in Ireland and gone to the east coast ; and the former terri- tory, which in their maps is given to the Rhobog,^^^ tends to evince that the latter not only expelled them to a situation north of the Voluntii, but seized upon their relinquished country, which, by the bards is called Dal na ruidhe or Magh Seimne. Such effects, naturally resulting from such causes, would account for the inconsistency of the different editions of Ptolemy's map ; the editors ascribing to error Ptolemy's west position of tribes, which time, unnoticed by geographers, had silently changed to the east. About the year 360, AmmianusMarcellinus and Saint Jerome, both then cotemporary, associate the Attacotti to the Caledonian Damni. The former are unnoticed by Pliny in the first, and by Ptolemy in the second century ; but as Richard introduces a colony '» Sec the subsequent account of the Gallic or Armoric tribe*. 86 INQUIRY INTO THE A. D. '320, from the north of Ireland to that part of Caledonia called after them Argyle — Ard Gaill, the high-land of the Gauls or Irish, or lar-Gael, AVestGanl, it is not improbable that the Attacotti — Attachtuathaof the bards, constituted this Irish colony. Though the precise time of the emigration may not be accurately defined, the early settlement of this Irish colony in Caledonia is so much insisted upon by different authors that, the fact may be readily admitted. And we may adduce as evidence, that the relinquished territory in Ireland was afterward denominated Da'l Riada, or the territory of the Clanna Rhoboig or Clanna Redoin. These emigrants, it is likely, were the Scots, whom Maximus induced the Picts to expel from their country about the time that Valentia was converted into aRoman province. '^° And these, perhaps, accompanied by the Da'l Riadas, probably constituted the Irish emigrants, who, in about two centuries after, crossed the north channel, and settled opposite to the north east promontory of Ireland, in Argyleshire, under the name of Novantes — Nodh meann, the celebrated new-comers. ""^ According to the bards, the Damni were twice in Ireland, Kcat p. 195 & 205 PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 87 Thus far history is supported by probable events, for Valentia, which was bounded on the east and west by the German ocean and the Irish sea, and comprehended all that territory, which lay between the wall of Adrian on the south, and that of Antonine on the north, having fallen into the hands of the Romans, it is unlikely that they would suffer their Irish enemies to abide in their neidibourhood, or that the latter would ven- ture their liberty in the vicinity of strangers, who wished for boundless dominion. And, in consequence,, it does not appear that those Irish Caledonian emigrants had dared to form a new settlement in Caledonia before the fifth century, when they learned that Honorius had renounced the sovereignty of Britain, that Valentia had been evacuated, south Britain drained of its youth and deserted by the Romans. The Bards inform us that this tribe were magicians, and skilled in the arts'^' and sciences, the knowledge of which, must have appeared, to savage minds, in the light of "" The superior intelligence of this people and of the Clanna Rhoboig, considered with Tacitus' account of the trade of Ireland, induce me to suppose that the coal-works at Bally-castlc on the north coast, which f ihibii marks of ancient opcrationi, had been worked by either or both, 88 INQUIRY INTO THE magic. From their accounts conjoined with the import of the word Tiiatha,^^^ which signifies north, and, metaphorically, anhono^ rable or sovereign people, it may be inferred that, during their stay in Caledonia, they had received a tincture of letters from the Roman Britons, which they might have brought with them into Ireland before the Christian religion was introduced here. According to the accounts of bards, this tribe, which was seated in the north, was expelled by the Milesians, who occupied the south of Ireland. But, it is more probable that it w^as induced to emigrate, pardy by the irruption of the Belgae from the south to the north, partly by the misfortune of Britain and by the hope of plunder. THE GALLIC OR ARMORIC TRIBES — FINE FOGHMORAICC, PIRATES. About fifty-seven years before the Christian aera, after the Veneti, Diablintae, Rhedones, Nannetae, and other states of Armorica, had been subdued by, and had given hostages to, P. Crassus, an insurrection arose among the first of these tribes. They not only detained *^ A woman supposed to be skilled in magic is called in Irish, ican iigU% »nd alto hean tuaihaib^ a nor(h woman. PRnilTIVE INHABITANTS. 89 and loaded with irons the ambassadors whom Crassus sent to sohcit a supply of corn, but entered into a confederacy with all the nations of the Gallic coast, and also sent ambassadors to Britain for an additional supply of forces.'''* These having been defeated at sea by the Romans, and all their vessels, except a few, having fallen into the hands of the latter, Caesar, reflecting upon their revolt, after they had given hostao;es as evidence of submission; irritated at the insult offered to the sacred character of ambassadors, and indulging a hope that exemplary punishment would deter other Gallic states from the commission of similar acts, proceeded against the survivors with unusual severity. Though Csesar informs us that the whole senate was put to death, and the rest sold as slaves, it is not improbable that many of the survivors, in dread of Caesar's anger, took refuge among the neighbouring states, or accompanied the defeated Britons, who had probably joined in the league.'^^ ^3 C.J. Cas. 1. 3. S.8. Omni ori maritimS celtritcr ad suam sententlani pcrducta. Ami S. Q. Socios hibi ad iJ belluni Osismios, Lexobios, Nannetcs, Ambianbs, Morinos, Diabliiues, Menapios adsciscunt. — Auxilia ex Britannia, quae contra eas rcgiones posita est, accersuiit. '"■» Ca;». L 4. S. 18. — Tamen in Britanniam proficisci contcndit; quod <,mnilvi /ere Cillich irllif,hoit\hili nostrisinde juL/nirit'slrala auxilia intelligebat. 90 INQUIRY INTO THE These fugitives seem to have coasted along the west shore of Britain, and crossed from the isle'of Mona or Anglesea over to Eirin. Three of those tribes and two septs occupied the north west division of this island. A fourth, called Diablinta.^ or Diablintes, settled in the site of Dublin, where they founded a town, which, according to an ancient author of the life of St. Coemgin, was denominated in Irish, Buhh-limiJ^^ Those Armoricans, according to the bards, whose narrative plainly proves that they wrote after Chris- tianity had been introduced into Ireland, were called Fine Foghmoi^aicc, who, they tell us, were African pirates of the race of Cham, compelled to quit their country by the descendants of Shem I They settled at Toir-inis or Tto?- Chonuing in that north west county, then and since called after them Dun-na-ngaP^"^ or Donnegal — the fortification of the Gauls, the situation assigned to the Vennicnii and Rhobogdii in Ware's edition of Ptolemy's map. The bards '"^ This name, which he interprets the * black bath^ properly signifies the black pond or pool, from which in Gaul, not in Dublin, the denomination of this tribe probably originated. — ' Et Scoticc dicitur Dubhlina, quod sonat latine nigra therma, et ipsa civiras potens et belligera est, in qua semper habitant viri aspcrriml in praliis, et peritissimi in classibus.' See p. 97 of this Work. ''s" Keating, p. 181. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 91 inform us that four of the sons of those pirates were artisans famous for the con- struction of forts, and were called Bog, Rhobog, Rodan and Ruibne.'^^ From this traditional account of their skill and of their denominations, I infer that this tribe were the CLANNA RHOBOIG, THE RHOBOGDII OF PTOLEMY, AND CLANNA RHODOIN OR THE RHEDONES OF C^SAR, whom our bards personified and fixed in Donnegal — Dun na ngal — the fortresses of the Gauls. These, or a sept of them, in after ages, seized upon the north east coast. They probably subdued the Damni, whose neighbouring territory in the county of Colerain — Cuil rathan, seems to have got into their possession. The Clanna Rhedoin were bounded on the north by the VENNICNII OR CLANNA VENNIC* These I conceive to be fugitives of the Veneti — Vennet of Ceesar, who seated them- selves near the extremity of the north west »07 See p. 15. note ^ • The author is aware that when the scope of a work do not coincide with the erroneous conceptions, prejudices or vanity of human nature, passages or assertions, apparently weak, arc too often selected for the condemnation of the work in general, even when the tenor of it and the facts adduced cannot be fairly refuted. 92 INQUIRY INTO THE coast. Another division of these seem to have settled cither then or afterward, and probably, with a commercial view, in North AVales. THE NAGNATI NAGNAT OR NANNET, whom I conceive to have been the Nannetes, Nannetee or Namnetae of Gaul, settled south of the Clanna Rhoboig in the county Sligo, and perhaps also in Mayo. Their town, which Ptolemy calls the illustrious city, jtoa^s im History yf Ireland, p. 181. '/"o Eadcm, p. 179. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 9^ tribute in slaves and in kind, which was annually paid at Magh Geidne and in Donnegal.^77 To facilitate the Irish trade, which was carried on with Britain and with other foreigners in the time of Tacitus/^s they constructed the road, already mentioned, through which the articles of commerce were conveyed to the metropolis of their allies, the Diablintae ; whence they were transported to Holyhead and Bangor^79 in North Wales, the "^ History of Ireland, p. 181. ''^ Vit. Agric. S. 24, Melius aditus portusque per commercia & ncgotiatores cogniti. It is not improbable that the Massilians, the early instructors of the Gauls, were invited by those Armoricans to trade with Ireland. ''^ In the 15th vol. of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, MIxt. of Fable, &c. p. 48. the author is disposed to believe he committed an error relative to the direction of the British causeway, which he thus accounts for. Having been then ignorant of any ancient Irish commercial road, and having relied upon Dr Gibson's explanation of the names of places found in an old Saxon chronicle, which the author supposed to be authentic, he thought Richard and Whitaker wrong in asserting that the British causeway extended from Richburrow in Kent, to Segontium, a town near Bangor ; not to Cardigan as Gibson describes it. — The author is now of opinion that the passage from Ireland across St. George's Channel to Cardigan was both long and dangerous, especially for the British and Irish corachs or boats which were slight in texture, ill-shaped and easily upset. — Gir. Cam. Cambrix Descr. C. 17, says that a British corach was liable to be overset by the tail of a living salmon : — cum autem naviculam salmo injectus cauda fortiter percusserit, non absque pcriculo plerumque vecturam pariter & vectoreni cvcrtit. These facts, as well as the following circumstances, induce him to suppose Gibson's line of road erroneous ; viz. the direction of the Irish causeway from the site of Galway to Dubhn ; the short passage thence across to Anglcsca and the safe land carriage from that island toward Bangor ferry, to the territory of the Armorlcan Vencti. 100 INQUIRY INTO THE territory of the other sept of the Veneti, ])y whom they were ultimately transferred along Sarn Gaolach, the Irish causeway, to Richburrough or Dover. The emigration of those Gallic tribes from Gaul, which may be inferred from the occu- pation of their territory by the Britons, gives some support to the opinion I advanced. The regions of the Curiosolitee on the north, and of the Veneti on the south, are parti- cularly noticed by Adelmus Benedictus, an author of the seventh century, as the retreat of the Britons; but, the Diablintse and Rhedones having been seated between those, it is probable that they had also forsaken their country. As the Curiosolita2 are not mentioned on Ptolemy's map of Ireland, it may be supposed that they might have assumed the name of a more distinguished tribe, or that of the chieftain Araidhe. The coincidence of circumstances con- nected with those people appears, on reca- pitulation, very striking. l...The causes of emigration. 2. ..The time nearly correspond- ing with the date assigned the Rhobog and Eblanoi by Mr. Whitaker. 3.. .The maritime situation chosen as the best suited for a PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 101 trading people. 4... The agreement of de- nominations. 5.. .The identity of nations or tribes, the Irish Gaill and Celtic Gauls having been of the same family. 6... The circmnstance of three neighbouring tribes in Gaul settling in the vicinity of each other in Ireland, and the fourth, together with a division of a fifth, forming establishments on opposite coasts, apparently with a trading view. 7... The subsequent and immediate occupation of their territories in Gaul by the British. 8. ..The vestiges of a civilized people, which have been discovered in Don- negal. 9-. -The appellations denoting a Gallic as well as an Irish people, which are still in use, or on record where they settled. 10.. .Their city Nagnata, to which Ptolemy applies the epithet ivtmfcogy illustrious, excelling, as we should suppose it among a commercial people, all the rest in Ireland. 11... Another town, if not two, within their territories, having been called Regia or Rigia (rig, rigo, royal) denominations applied to royal forts in Gaul. 12...Their skill and power as mariners. 13. ..The commercial road leading from the territory of the most southern Gallic tribe to the metropolis of the Diabhntae, 102 INQUIRY INTO THE "where, according to Irish history, duties were anciently levied upon merchandize. 14."AVatling-street, a Saxon corruption of sarn Gailach,^^° the Irish causeway, having been conducted nearly on a line with Aisgeir Riada, through the territory of the Veneti of North Wales. l5...The failure of Mr.Whitaker in accounting for those particular tribes. l6...The notice in Richard, which expressly states that the Cauci and Menapii had arrived in Ireland a little before Cesar's attempt on Britain.*^* Notwithstanding the power of necromancy, which the Damni are represented to have exercised against their enemies, the fate of battle drove them from the county London- Derry or Colerain to the east shore of Antrim; "•^ Richard, Iter. I. Ab eadem civitate (Rhutupae, Richburrow in Kent,) ducta est via Guethelinga dicta usque in Segontium ; a town near Bangor. Rapin calls this road a Roman high way ; but as the Irish were never known fo the Romans by the name of Gaill, as Air. Whitaker observes, we may conclude from the Celtic denomination of .this causeway, that it was con- structed by the Britons ; and from its Import and direction, for the purpose of conveying commodities from the commercial people of Ireland to the commercial people of Britain. '^' Antiquities of Ireland, p. 9. — The Menapii, and perhapi the Cauci vere allies in the Armorican war against Cxsar. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. i05 whence they afterward probably emigrated to the present Scotland. The forsaken ter- ritories were seized upon by some of the victorious tribes, which assumed in part the names of their commanders. The denomi- nation Rhobog was transferred to those, who quitted the west for the north-east coast ; but the other Gallic septs adopted the new names of chieftains, and were called Da I na riiidhe. Da I raidhc, and Da' I Riada. Dili sisfnifies a property, territory or tribe; and ruidhe, raidhe and ri, which are all pronounced ree, may, for aught an Irish etymologist knows, mean a chieftain's name merely, or a king. lii-ada or fada^ which is interpreted ' a long arm', signifies also a tall king. These seized upon the entire county of Antrim, which was known by the general appellation Da' I meann-araidhe, which, with some alteration in spelling, may mean the jmnons territory of the king, or of Araidhe. And, accordingly, the bards inform us that this chief was a kins: denominated Fiacha Araidhe. Those Gauls were probably invited, in conjunction with the Bclgae, to join the Picts in their annual predatory excursions into Britain. And some of their tribes, about the third or fourth century, seem to have settled in Caledonia. 104i TNQUIRT INTO THE THE VOLUNTII, ULUNTII ULLAIGH. The Armoric tribes, the Diablintae except- ed, seemingly with a view of commanding a greater extent of territory and of trade, preferred the west to the east coast of Ireland. The north-east, being consequently left un- occupied, received the Uluntii, either about the commencement of Christianity, when the Bri2;antes of Yorkshire and Durham invaded Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancaster and Chester ; or, in the year 76, when Petilius Cerealis was the first Roman who invaded this part of Britain. From the inscription, ' Volanti vkas,'^^^ preserved upon an ancient altar, which was found in EUenborough, a town situate upon the mouth of the river Elen or Ulen, in Cumberland, it may be inferred that this tribe was called Volant or Ulant ; a denomi- nation either derived from or bestowed upon the river, by the inhabitants. According to Mr. W hi taker, this town was the capital of the Voluntii, where the first cohort of the Dalmatians was garrisoned, and commanded by Cornelius Peregrinus, for whom this in- scription is supposed to have been engraved, 182 t jy^jy you ijye gt Volaiit.' PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 105 in commemoration of his having restored the houses and temples of the Decuriones, * which were dedicated to the genius of the place/ According to Stephens' Historical Dictionary the name of that town was transported with that part of the tribe, which emigrated to the county Down, and applied to the site of the present poor town of Ardglas, which he denominates Vohmtium. Beside three great canthreds, which the county Down contains, the Voluntii pro- bably occupied the whole of the county Ardmagh, and parts of the counties Louth and Monaghan, which anciently were called Oir-gal — East Gaul. Close to the city of Down, a large fort called Aras Cheltair, surrounded with great ram- parts, is yet in tolerable preservation : it measures in conical height sixty feet, and in circumference two thousand one hundred. — As it is commemorated by documents more ancient than those on the Danish invasion, it is erroneously ascribed to the Danes. Another fortification, called Eamhain Madia, formerly, it is said, of more celebrity, is situate, according to Colgan, near Ardmagh; a town anciently called Druim-saUeach, The p 106 INQUIRY INTO THE denoniiiiations Ulagh, Vila or Ulliv, which anciently were confined to the county Down, and Ullaigh to the tribe, were afterward extended to the whole province of Ulster, whose inhabitants in general are now called Ulltaigh. And the affinity of these appella- tions to Volant or Ulont, may be considered a memorial of this ancient tribe. The only remaining Celtic tribes of Ireland were the Brigantes and the CeannCangi ; but, as these were preceded by the Belgae of Gaul and Britain, it becomes necessary to speak of the prior settlements of the latter, to account for the posterior ones of the former, and for the consequent numerous battles which occurred between those jealous and hostile neighbours. THE BELG^'^^ — FIR BOLG; LITERALLY THE BELGIAN PEOrLE. The places of residence, which the bards assign the Belgae, are confused, the ancient being blended with the later. The confusion ''^ The Roman imitation of the Gothic appellation, whicli might have been lolagy like the Irish name, a word signifying, according to Olaus Varelius, « ivciety of good men. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 107 arose from this cause. The bardic history was commenced some centuries after the Belgse had crossed the river Shannon, and consequently it assigns to them not only the province of Connacht, which in the second century belonged to the Ceann Cangi and the Aut-Araidhe, but that of Ulster ; which in that century was divided among Gallic tribes and the British, the Damni and Voluntii. That the Belgae originally emigrated from Gaul to Britain admits of little doubt : the denominations of tribes, borrowed from their forsaken towns in Gaul, of which the re- membrance was lost in the second century, confirmed Julius Caesar in that opinion. ^^* And that the custom prevailed among them appears, from the coincidence of the names of their British seats with those denominations by which they were known in Ireland. And though history were silent, those names which designated them in the second century, would be sufficient to i)rove that the inhabitants of the south-west of Ireland were emigrants from the south-west of Britain, and, consequently, "*♦ De bel. Gal. 1.- 5, S. lO, — Qui oniiics fere iis iiomiiiibus civitatum appellantui", tjiiibus orti ex tivitatibus eo pcrvcnerunt. 108 INQUIRY INTO THE BelgcT. The British Belgai arrived in Ireland, probably, in the year 45 of the christian aera,**^ and their settlement on the south-west coast tends to prove that the Cauci, Menapii, and Coriondii had previously been fixed on the east coast. THE CAUCI — CAICHER, GAILEANGA OR GARMAN. The Natural History of Pliny contains an account of the greater and less Cauci (C. majores Sc C. minores), who were divided from each other by the river Weser — Visurgis. Their territories were situate between the Ems • — Amisia, and the Elbe — Albis. Phny visited both nations, and informs us, that no people could be more wretched. They occupied huts, which they raised upon hillocks, or upon the strand above the flow of tide. — Destitute of fruit, milk, flesh of cattle, or that of wild beasts, their only food consisted of fish, which they caught in nets made of sea- wrack and the marsh rush. Their drink was rain water, collected in dikes before their doors. They dressed their food and warmed their bodies with mud dried chiefly by the "i Whitaker's Hinory of Manchester PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 109 wind.*^'^ To add to their misery, they were prevented by Roman garrisons from preying upon the otherGermans. Thus circumstanced, as no change of situation could render their condition more wretched, any inducement to emigrate would be readily embraced by any of their septs. They were probably solicited to join the Menapii, who were allies in the Armorican maritime war against Csesar ; and some of them, not unlikely, passed over to Ireland with the vanquished emigrants. Antiquities of Ireland, page 9 —'A notice in Richard of Cirenchester expressly informs us that the Menapii and Cauci, two Teutonic tribes, arrived here a little before Caesar's attempt on England/ These tribes bounded each other in Ireland, and afterward became allies of the south-west Belgse. They were called the long-haired or bushy -headed, by Lucan ; and by the Irish, Sliocht Germain — the German race, Fir Tuathal — O'Tool's men, Gaileanga or Fir Gailean — enemies, "^ Lib. 16, S. I . Sunt vcro in scptentrione visa: nobis gentes CLaucorum, qui majores minoresque appellantur.— Illic misera gens tumulos obtinct altos, aut tribuaalia structa manibus ad experimcnta attissimi xstus casis ita impositis. Non pecuJem his habere, non lacte ali, ne cum feris quidem dimicarc con- tigit, omnl procul abacto frutice. Ulva et palustrl junco foncs ncctunt ad prxtexcnda piscibus rctia ; captumque manibus lutum ventis magis quam sole siccantcs ; hac tcrri cibos et rigcntia scptentrione viscera sua uiunt. Potui Don nisi ex imbri servato scrobibui in TCJtibulo domus. I 10 ^ INQUIRY INTO THE or Caiclier, in imitation of the German name. A district in the county Wicklow, containing three baronies, and called Carman or Garinarit was in late ages commemorative of this family. THE MENAPII — MANTANj prior to their emigration to Eirin, were divided by the Rhine from, and seated about two degrees south-west of, the Cauci minores. They occupied part of Brabant and of Geldria, as far as the Gallic side of the Rhine.^^7 Their territory on the east coast of Ireland bounded that of the Cauci on the south, and both extended from the north borders of the county Wicklow to the south promontory of Wexford. The line of demar- kation, if any, cannot be now ascertained, nor is it worth the trouble of inquiry. Some editors of Ptolemy's map place their metro- polis, called Menapia, in Wexford, a town called by the Irish, Loch Gannain — the lake of the Germans; or Inmliear Slainge'^^ — the harbour of Slainge, a German chieftain. ^ p. Cluv. Intr. Geog. page 69. — Inde Menapii reliqua Brabaiiti.x pars, ct item Geldrix ad Rhenum usque. •^ If Keating's notice be true that the followers of Slainge were called Gailians, it may be inferred that this chieftain headed both the Cauci taxi Menapii in the Briganlian war. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. Ill THE CORIONDII — COIIUNNAIGH, are variously placed upon the different edi- tions of Ptolemy's map : by Ware and the author of an Irish map purporting to precede the thirteenth century, north of the Vodii — ■ Eochaidh, and west of the Menapii; by Ortelius, east of the Cauci and Menapii, and they are even represented to occupy the whole east coast from AVicklow to Wexford ; by Mercator, between the Menapii and the Brigantes, whom he places on the south-east coast. Most agree that their position was near that of the Menapii, a circumstance which warrants the assertion that the Coriondii were not only a German tribe, but a sept of their neighbour. And they probably occupied a situation between the Menapii and theVodii, which included the county of Waterford, the subsequent territory of the Brigantes. The feeble rays emanating from bardic songs may diffuse some light amidst the gloom which obscures this part of Belgic history. Those poets, who composed their songs in the middle ages, and who left many chasms to be filled up by future conjecture, were in succeeding ages followed by others, who. 119 INQUIRY INTO THE allowing a free scope to the imagination, call the Belgic tribes partly by names imitative of the Gothic, partly after the names of chieftains, "who lived in different ages, and partly from local situation. Thus, the Coriondii were, probably in later ages, per- sonified under the name of Fiilman, and the Menapii under that of Mantan. These are described as two chieftains of Eibhear's tribe (the Ibhearni of Ptolemy) and they are gene- rally coupled in song. The Coriondii were probably the Coruimaigh, who afterward emigrated to a district in Conacht, long called, and probably by them, Corunna. THE BRITISH BELGiE — FIR BOLG, FIR DAMHNON OR FIR DHOMHNOIN. In the year 45 of the christian aera, Vespasian had been engaged with the Belgae in thirty battles, according to Suetonius, or thirty -two, according to Eutropius. And, as we are informed by the former author, he took the Isle of Wight, subdued the two most powerful Belgic tribes, which were then probably known by the names of Belgse and Damnonii, and seized upon more than twenty of their PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. US towns. The arms of S. Paulinus and P. Cerealis afterward reduced their British territory into a Roman province. Those descendants of the Goths thus harrassed, and, like their ancestors, intolerant of slavery, would naturally look for freedom abroad, which they could not expect under the Roman colonists at home. Accordingly, a conside- rable body of these steered for the south coast of Ireland, about the time of Vespasian's victory ; and, on emigrating, they seem to have passed over in successive order, probabl}^ according to that of their defeat.'^' Firstly, THE VODII, UDII, UO-DI EOCHAIDH (pronounced EO-HEE,) PERSONIFIED, a denomination probably applied by Ptolemy in imitation of a chieftain's name, Eochaidh, finding the south-east coast of Ireland occu- pied with the Cauci, Menapii and Coriondii, settled beyond their west boundaries in part of the present county of Cork.^'o, Each sept, ^ See p. 17, &c. notes, andOgygia,p.l4. ••^ Their chief town or fortification was situate where the present town of Youghal is erected; this town is still c;illed Eochail, (pronounced Eohil) aft'.r that tiibc or sept. The only sites of those towns or fortresses, inhabited Q 1 14 INQUIRY INTO THE like the Armoric tribes, seems to have chosen a situation contiguous to that, which had, previously in Britain, been its neighbour and perhaps ally. In consequence, the Vodii, who in Ireland, were fixed on the east of the Ibhearni, had probably in Britain, a similar position, and were, like most of the otiier Belsric emig-rants, a tribe of the Damnonii. The Vodii seem to have formed a strict alliance with their western neighbours, THE IBERNI, IBHEARNI EIBHEAR OR HKBF.R (pronounced EI-VER OR EA-VER,) PERSONIFIED*. Tl.e Clan of Heber, the reputed brother of Herenion, — Oir-mumhan or East-Munstcr, the supposed Chief of the Brigantci. Their denomination is by Mr. Whitaker derived from the Ibearnio of Ravennas, the present Eeare in Dorsetshire. But, as there were two places of a similar name in Devon- shire, it is more probable that they emigrated from one of these and had bounded the Velibori in Britain as well as in Ireland. Of all the Belgic tribes or septs the Ibhearni were the chief. They seemed to command, in the second century, which are now accurately known, are Ardglas, Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford and Youghal. The town or fort in the situation of Wjterford wa» built probably in the third or fourth century. See Note P* p. -J 5. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 115 as occasion required, the co-operation of any of the other septs in their numerous expedi- tions against the Brigantes and their aUies, the Ceann Cangi. Irish history is full of those battles ; but the account is a di\y detail ; without episode or incident. The Ibhearni at length succeeded in subduing the Brigantes; but their reduction, it is said, was assisted by other causes ; a rebellion among the lower order, desertion and emigration of the Brigantes to Caledonia. After this conquest the Ibhearni, on crossing the Shannon, re- ceived detachments from the Cauci, Menapii, Coriondii and other Belgic septs, which, after they exterminated or destroyed the Ceann- Cangi, settled partly in Conacht. And the Ibhearni hciving seized upon the province of Ulster, the remainder of the Brigantes were permitted to concentrate themselves in the county of Waterford. A memorial of this Belgic tribe, which is called Iverni or Iberni by Ptolemy, Iberi by Richard, Eibhear by the bards, is preserved in Bear a, the Irish denomination of Bear-haven, which is erro- neously ascribed to a comparatively modern Irish or Spanish chieftain; and also in Kinn- mbearn, situate, according to O'Flaherty, 116 INQUIRY INTO THE page 176, in the barony of Kiltartan, in the county Gal way, where some Famihes of this tribe settled after it crossed the Shannon. THE VELABRI OR VELIBORI, VEL-EE-BOR-I SIOL EIBHEIR ; pronounced EA-VIR. This appellation is derived by Baxter from their Jocal position in Ireland : vel, the mouth, abet', of a river ; in allusion to their situation near the mouth of Castlemain or Dingle bay ; and by Mr. Whitaker from the river Voliba in Cornwall. This sept might have occupied a situation near the river Voliba ; but as to these derivations, they are only ingenious conjectures, and proved to be so by bardic history; which denominates this sept Siol Eibhear — the Heberian race. This fact evinces that the Velibori were a sept of the Eibhearni, \vhose territory must consequently have extended from the neighbourhood of Cork or Kingsale to Dingle, if not to the Shannon. In Britain they seem to have been placed north-east of the Lucd Ceni, or the Damnonian inhabitants of the harbour called Cenion in Cornwall ; and in Ireland, south of the latter tribe, and N.W. of the Ibheami> PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 117 THE LUCENI OR LUC-SCENA, LUC-SCE-NA OF OROSIUS, LUCD'"' NA SIONNA, pronounced LUCHD NA SHINNA, The People of the River Shannon. The Shannon probably received its deno- mination from this Belgic sept, which fixed itself upon its southern boundary. It is called by Ptolemy, Seniis ; by jEthicus, Sacana ; by Orosius, Scena; by Giraldus Cambrensis, Smnenus or Sinnenas ; by Jocelin, Sijnnia ; and by the Irish, Sionnain or Sionna, which some derive from sean-amhan — the old river. This sept is supposed to have emigrated from Falmouth haven, which was anciently called Cenion. These were probably a sept of the Siol Eibheir. Exclusive of those specific denominations, the Belgaa as a body were known to the Irish by general appellations, as Carman or Garmav, in allusion to their ancient stock ; Fir Bolg, their Galhc and British name; FirBamhnon, the Damnonii, in allusion to their territory in Cornwall and Devonshire, which they relinquished ; and Fir Gailian, enemies. Seveml inferences, which may tend to supply the deficiency of history, may be w Leod, Lud, Luyd, in Gothic tignlfy /cli,/>(o/,lc. Sec OlausVareliui inToc?, 118 nCQUIRY INTO THE deduced from some traditionary names of the east coast, Avhich are still preserved. The harbour of Arklow, for instance, was called Inmhear DomJwon ; whence we may infer that, that harbour received theDanmonii on their arrival from Britain. But, probably, in consecpience of the east coast having been pre-occupied, they were obliged to file off to the south-west; which accounts for the name Erros Damnomorum, applied by Saint Adamnan, in the seventh century to the north west part of Conact, and evinces the migration thither of at least a part of this family. The Belgae are, by the figure prosopopoeia, made by the bards the sons of Deo/G— kindred, who was the son of Loch — the sea, he of Tcachta — possession, who was the son of Tribhuadh — Treabhadh, plowing? the great grandson of Oir-teachta — east possession. This personage was the son of Simeon, who was the great grandson of Stairn (Stair — history,) and he of Nemheadh — poetry. These tribes were appropriately called the sons o^ Kindred; for they lived distinct from the Gaill ; spoke in the Gothic or Belgic language for some time after their arrival, PRIMITIVE INHABITANT:*. 119 and were generally leagued against the for- mer. The territories, which the bards assign them, are confused ; for they blend their conquests in the north, some of which were made in the third and fourth centuries, with their possessions in the south, which they partly relinquished. ^9* Mr. Whitaker has assigned boundaries to each of the Belgic tribes ; but land having been then of little value, it is probable they were not accurately defined, even among themselves. ^93 Like the British Belgae Avhich seized upon the whole south coast of Britain, their Irish relatives possessed themselves of the east and south-west coast of Ireland, a circumstance which tends to prove the editions of Ptolemy's map by Mercator and Ware erroneous, in placing the Brigantes in the second century in Waterford, between those Belgic tribes ; but that of Ortelius correct, in fixing them in Leinster, the pro- ■^ Sec p. S3. '"^ Cx9. dc bel. Gal. I/. 6, S. '20, speaking of the German*, $ays, that the magistrates allowed no man to appropriate land with defined boundaries, nor to hold it longer than a year : neque quisquq agri modum ccrtum, aut finer proprioi habet : »cd magistratus ac principes — anno p&st alio traatlrt coguite. — See p. ji. 120 INQUIRY INTO THE vince assigned them also by Irisli bards. — The whole south coast of Ireland, from the Oboca — abhan mor, to the Shannon, being open to, and probably occupied by, the Belgae, it is not likely that they would have suftered the Brigantes, a Celtic and poste- rior tribe, to seize upon the county of Waterford ; nor that the Brigantes at so great a distance from their allies, the Ceann- Cangi, would have ventured upon a settle- ment in the midst of hostile tribes, differing from them in manners, customs and language. But, though the Brigantes, for the reasons assigned, had not occupied the count}^ of Waterford in the second century, the ancient names, still preserved, tend to prove that in later ages, after the Belgic arms had sub- dued Conacht and Ulster, they quitted their north territory, and removed to the county of Waterford. If the different editors of Ptolemy's map had any meaning for altering the previous editions, it probably was caused by the change of territory, consequent upon the wars of tribes. And, consequentl}^, the position given for the second, may truly belong to later centuries. Thus, the decu- niate lands in Suabia, which in the time of pantXlTlVi; INHAUiTANTS, 1^1 Julius Caesar, belonged to the Marcomanni, were in the second century occupied by Gallic tribes, under the protection of Rome; and the territory of the Boii in Bohemia was inhabited by the Marcomanni in the same century, THE BllIGANTES CLANN'A BHREOGAIN ; MAC MILEADIl THE SONS OF A SOLDIER, U«ually called the Milesians ; Cimeadh Scuir, the Scythian rac: ; or Fine Gaill, the Galic Family. Enslish writers, inclined to think that there must have been some foundation for the Irish account of a Scythian colonization from Spain, have, from a similarity to the Spanish names of tribes and an inability to account otherwise for their origin, selected the Iberi, Luceni and Concangi, whom Ptolemy and Orosius have placed on the south and south- west coast of Ireland, as those alluded to in bardic verse. But, the first and second were only two out of seven tribes or septs of the Beloffi, and the third was a Celtic tribe in alliance with the Brigantes. 'J'hese united, constituted the whole of the bardic Spanish emigration: neither however, as I think, it will appear, had emigrated from Spain. 1S$ INQUIRY INTO THE These authors liave not considered that a voyage of one hundred and fifty leagues, the distance between the north-west parts of Spain and Ireland, would have been a rash undertaking to a people unacquainted with the island and with navigation, even admitting that the}^ possessed vessels superior to carucai — corachs or small wicker boats covered with hides and capable of containing men, women, children and cattle. Accord- ingly we are informed by Appian, a respect- able author of the first century, that the Spaniards undertook no voyage to the west or north, unless when they availed themselves of the flow of tide on sailing to Britain. '^^ At that time they might have heard of the inhabitants of Eirin through their intercourse with Britain ; but as this commerce was thirteen hundred years posterior to the pre- tended Milesian settlement in Eirin, no inference can be drawn from this fact relative to any previous knowledge of this island. Those bardic chronologists, who arrogantly presume to supply omissions even in sacred •5>4 Thcac. Gcogr. vet. Petro Bert. Bcvero. — Appianus, gravis aucror, qui visit sub Hadriano Imp. scribit, Hispanos ab occidcntali et septentrionali oceano abttinere, niji quando in Britanniam uni cum sestu maris traruvehuntur. FRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 1^3 writ/95 inform us that the Milesians, before their arrival in Ireland, had expelled the Goths from Spain ; an assertion repugnant to facts. For, according to the most ancient Greek historians, the primitive inhabitants of Spain were Celts, a people who had in every country, been hostile to the cause of Scythian tribes. Those Celts were driven from the south parts of Spain by the Phenicians and Carthaginians, who, in their turn, were expelled by the Romans. These, in the year 134 before the christian aera, became masters of the whole country ; but, on the decline of the Roman empire, the Goths, for the first time, seized upon that peninsula, about the beginning of the fifth century and reduced it under the dominion of their kings, which they continued to hold about 300 years.'?^ W Sec p. 25, of this Inquiry. 's* The following passage, from Dr. CampbeU's Philosophical Survey of Ireland, is thus quoted by a late writer. ' The learned Divine does allow that « a Scythian nation, coming last from Spain, did settle in Ireland, at a very early period ; because Orosius, who flourished in the fourth century, says that, the Scythians expulscd from Gallicia in Spain by Constantine the Great, took •belter in Ireland ; when they found the country under the dominion of their countrymen the Scyths or Scots.' . I have not met with the works of Orosius, who was an author, rot of the fourth, but of the fifth century. The only passage relative to Ireland, 1. 1, c.2» quoted by writers from some of the first editions of that book, does not contain a single line of the above supposed quotation, which the following f^Z'if iNQCIKl INTO rtih We may Goiiclude from lliis history, that if the Milesians had wished to expel the Goths from Spain, they must have fought against their own countrymen, and could not have emigrated to Ireland before the ^fth reasons incline mc to lieiievc h spurious. I do not find that history warrant* the assertion, that Constantine expelled the Scythians from Gallicia, nor from any other part of Spain. Neither do I find that those Scythians, called Vandals, &c. or those called Visigoths or West Goths, who invaded Spain, had ever done so before the fifth century, or quitted their countries on the Vistula and the Baltic with a view of invading Gaul and Spain before that time. Further, had the supposed information, ascribed to Orosius, been tiTie, that those Scythians had passed from Spain to Ireland, rather than tc^ Africa, whiiher some Goths had been driven from Spain, still, though they would have probably found this island unc'.tr the dominion of the Belgs, *■ branch of the same family, Dr. Campbell would not be authorised to assert that these Scythians had fixed in Ireland a( a very remote time. Constantine the Great expelled some of the Franks from Gaul, A. D. 3 1 3, an ?ge greatly posterior to that of the supposed arrival of the Milesians in Ireland. Mr. O'Flahtrty, the Rev. Charles O'Conor, and others have, through excess of zeal in support of the bardie Milesian narratives, unknowingly calumniated the Brigantes or those figuratively denominated the Milesiant of Ireland. Had they been acquainted with the early history of Spain, they would have left those supposed Scythian ancestors of the Irish to their bestial course of life, and in unenvied possession of that part of Spain in which history has discovered and stigmatized them. Mr. O'Conor's ardor in thi» cause has tended only to lessen the value of his learned work. For want of better authority he is reduced to the necessity of appealing to Horace and to Silius Italicus, who, he says, inform us that Scythians resided in Spain, whence, according to information obtained in Ireland by Nennius, an author of the ninth century, they emigrated to Ireland m the fourth age of the world. Rer. Hib. Scr. vet. p. 70. Scythas cnim in Hispania memorant Silius 3. 56", ct Horat. Od. 3, -,', unde earum in Hiberniam migrationem in quarta mundi state narrat Ncnnius .' This age, as some suppose, comprehended the intermediate time from the departure of Moses from Egypt till the building cf Solomon's temple. The people alluded to by Horace and Silius were the Concani, a wild people who inhabited probshiy the pre«cnt Canvas in Aituriat. Horace doe* ooc PRIMITIVE INHABltANTS. 225 century. Those Milesians, as Scythians, should also have used the Gothic language and characters in Egypt, Spain or Ireland, But we have no vestige of the latter, and the remains of the former are borrowed from the denominate them Scythians : he says only, they considered the blood of horse* i delightful beverage : Lib. iii. Car. 4. Ut cunque mccimi vo'; eriti'; ■ Vi>ain Britannos l\ospitibu-> feros, Et l3Ctum equino sanguine Concar.um ; — inviolaui* ■ Silius Italicus who v.-i otc about a century later, seems to infer, from their euitom in using the biooJ of horses as food, and from other instances of barbarity, that they were descendants of the Massagetes. Sil. Ital. 1. 3, 360. Nee, qui Massageten mon^trans feritatc parcntcm, Cornipcdis fu>a saiiaris, Concane, vena. Tliese were a Scythian people occupying part of West Tartary from the Caspian Sea to some undefined north and east boundaries. Their manner*, according to Strabo, Ptolemy, Herodotus and others, were so barbarous that they not only devoured their enemies, but their relations after death. Supposing the bardic accounts true, this people could not have been the Brigantes of Ireland, because these, whether they emigrated from Spain or Britain, were not Goths but Celts, and were, moreover, a comparatively civilized, populous and potent nation. — Beside, admitting that the Brigantci of Ireland were both Concani and Scythians, as they assuredly never returned from Ireland to Spain, they could not have been resident in Ireland, in the fourth age of the world, and in Spain also, in that of Horace. To uphold the supposed honor of Brigantian descent, thus ignorantly debased by its declared supporters, we must reject Mr. O'Conor's supposition v/ith regard to the Concani, who, whether Scythians, Sclavonians or Thracians, could not, as a very barbarous people, and insignificant, in point of number or power, reflect any credit upon the Iiish nation. And, it may be further observed that, as history is silent with regard to any other real or supposed Gothic tribe having ever settled in Spain prior to the commencement of the fifth century, none of that family can be consistently said to have emigrated thence to Ireland before that time.- It may be objected that a body of the Cimbri, connected with the Gothic invaders of Italy, had passed into Spain about a hundred years before the Christian seia; but as these marauders had been speedily expelled by the Cehiberians, they could not be considered as settlers in that peninsula, nor, cor.iiderj.ng the time of their invasion, as the people whom the bard* (odeaToured to ettablitb in Eitin in an age much more remote 1'2{5 INQUIRY INTO TUB Belgic colonies. As to the Scythian, Coptic and Cantal)ric letters and languages, there is no affinity between either of them and our national ones. ^97 If the bardic account of those Milesians or Scythians were true, it w^ould appear strange to Lord Lyttleton that their national name of Scuit should have remained dormant during the many supposed ages which intervened from their arrival here until the middle of the fourth century. And it is still more extraordinary that, not only in this isle, but in Scythiaand in their peregrinations,they should have adopted the language of the Celts and abandoned that of their ow^n nation. Those inconsistencies may be thus accounted for. Bardic songs having been composed long after the settlement of those tribes in Ireland, the poets, ignorant of the real names of the chieftains, invented figurative appellations adapted to the fictitious qualifications of heroes, — to their possessions or places of '57 The ancient Gothic and Coptic chara€ters, though very dissimilar, arc derived from the Ionic Greek ; and the ancient Spaniards made use of letters ■which were nearly Greek and amounted in number to twenty four. Those Cantabrians, having been besieged by Augustus Caesar, destroyed themselves twenty-five years before the christian jcra. The remains of their language collected by Larramendi is very different from the present Spanish, and, accordinj to Leibnitz, Mcrula and Macpheraon, rery dissimilar to the Irish. FRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 1^ residence. Thus, one of the heroes of the Milesian poem is denominated Gal-lamh and also Mileadh, appellations of the same import as Ctor-ghalf a champion, or soldier. And this champion was the father of another hero, who, thousli he is said to have been born in Galicia, was called after his supposed posses- sions in Ormond or east Munster, ElreamMn, a name thus designedly spelled to mislead, or corrupted from iir, or, more properly, oir-mhumhan^ east Munster, which was an- ciently one of the divisions of this province. And, this word is not of Cantabric origin, it is derived by Keating from mumho^ greater, a name applicable to the comparative mag- nitude of this division of the province. Consequently, this supposed chieftain was called after the territory; not the territory from him. For similar reasons those tracts, which belonged to Fitz-Thomas, the earl of Desmond, were called Deas-mlnlmliain, or south Munster, and those of the family of O'Brien, Tuadh-mhumhain, or north Munster. Various circumstances tend to prove that the Milesian history was composed some ages after the time of Ptolemy, probably not earlier than the seventh century; viz. the 1:28 INViUiRY INTO THE histOF} being interwoven with the Mosaic, which had not produced many proselytes here in the fifth century ;^98 the many deri- vatives from the Latin with regard to rehgion; the bardic names of places in Ireland being those of the middle ages ; and the omission of some tribes which Ptolemy notices as cotemporaneous in the second century. The geographical*99 and eastern historical information contained in Irish history, may be traced, as Dr. O'Brien observes, to eccle- siastical books*o<5 brought hither by the Roman 'S38 This inference appears from a curious fact, which occurred, A. D- 457, as it is related in the Annah of the Four Masters ■. ' Oath atha-dara ria Laignibh for Langhaire M*^. Neill ro gab don Laoghaire isin cath sin, agut do rad Laoghaire ratha Grene agus gaoithe, agus na ndul do talgnibh iiach tiocf forra tria bitiiin ara legaidh udha;' i.e. the battle at the oak-foid fought by the inhabitants of Leinster against Laoghaire the son of Neil. Laoghaire, Jiaving been taken in that battle, swore by the sun, wind and elements that during his life he never would march against them with that view ; to wit, of requiring the tribute of cows, which was the cause of that battle Yet this Laoghaire is noticed as the first of the Christian Kings in Ireland. — The historians add, that he violated his oath and was in conse- quence killed by the sun and wind. 'VJ The knowledge of geography was notwithstanding, very circumscribed, as it appears from the travels and voyages of Mileadb. I'hey were as ignorant of Scandinavia as the French of those days were, although they were invaded at different times by hordes from that quarter. They, for instance, deno- minated the Danes and Norwegians ' the fair and dark offspring, and also, Loclilanig or lake-landers,' from the circumstance of their fleeing for safety or with plunder, to our lakes, yhither they were in the habit of drawing their boats. '*> It was from this source of information that Spanish and Irish writers as well as the compilers of Universal History had learned that Magog was the ancestor of the Scythian$. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 129 clergy. And the errors of bards respecting the Scjthian origin of the Milesians, who were the Brigantes and Cans-an or Ceann- Cangi of Britain, both Celtic tribes, arose from the Gothic arms, manners and customs of the Irish of their days. And these may be traced to the predominant power of the Belgge in Ireland, who at this time had, like many of the old English in the reign of John, neglected their own language for the gailic or Irish Celtic.^®^ However, notwithstanding the romantic su- perstructure which the bards have raised in their narrative of the Milesians, some facts may be discovered in the traditional basis, which tend to establish the authenticity of Ptolemy's map. A mutual hght is consequently reflect- ed, which soon became nearly extinguished by the soar of bards through regions of fiction. Ortelius' edition of Ptolemy's map places the Brigantes in the situation of the county Kilkenny, the west division of the Queen's county, called Ossory, and in Carlow ; and their allies and cotemporary settlers, the IOT The descendants of the primitive Irish, the Ccltx or Gaill, had always an antipathy to the consonants of the Gotliic or Bclgic language, which they called Btlgaid, and also to its dialect, the English. — Sec page 79, note 152. S 150 INQUIIIY INTO TIIL Ccuiin Caiigi or the chid' Caiigi, who were shepherds and herdsmen, in Tuadh-nihuinhan, the county Clare. Most of the bards fix the ibrmer in Leinster and extend their territory Ironi Magh Breg, north of DubHn, to New Ross in AVexibrd : some place them in Ulster and Conacht;^°* but, as all agree that their poetic chieftain, IierenK)n — Oir-nihumhan-°5 ^- rhe audiors of the Book of Invasions and Psalter of Ca^hcl, as well a» Gloila Coamhaiii and'Torna Eigif, were completely ignorant of the state of Ireland in the second century. They assert that the south division of Ireland, ca.lled Uiitb dheas, or leaio Mogb, was possessed by Hebcr's small colony ; the nortli called Itath tbuadb or leatb Cuinn, and separated from the former by the road calkd Ai.sgeix Riada, by Heremou. As if one colony, according to their narratior;, could require such extent of territories I This division of the island wcruld strike at the foundation of Irish history. For, if we admit that the ^Milesians constituted but one small colony, which soon after their arrival in Ireland, separated into two septs, both occupying the extreme ends of tlii* island, the numerous battles which occurred between them could not be re- conciled with our ideas of convenience, prudence, necessity or policy. Thi» division was merely conjectural. Tradition having fixed the Eibhearni, the principal Belgic tribe, in the south, it was supposed that the Brigantes in a con(|ucred island, must have chosen the north. — I take this opportunity of correcting an error into which the Rev, Mr. Ledwich hus fallen. Page ". Antiquities of Ireland, he says, ' Neither Bede, Ncnnius or Girald. Cambr. mention Milesius.' On the contrary, that name is twice mentioned in the 6th Chapter of the Topography of Ireland : ' Dc quinto adventu filiorum MlUsli regis de partibus Hispanix et qualiter Herymon et Heberus regnum inter se diviserunt.' In this chapter he speaks of four sons of King Milesius who arrived in Ireland, and of the subsequent division of this island between Herymon, who chose the south and Heber who, he says, settled in the north. 102 "phe bards inform us that Oir-mhumhan anciently consisted of two canthreds called Muscruighc-tire, which extended from the south part of the Qiieen's Cou.^ty, through Kilkenny to Carraig-na-Suirc near Waterford. rni.^IITIVE INHABITANTS. 131 resided in Leinster, near New Ross, Keating natural]}^ infers that the tribe he commanded, must liave settled in the neio-hbomhood. Keating informs us thatMilesius — Mileadh and his relations were the family of Breoghan, son of Bratha.^°^ And, ' from the posterity of Breogan, no doubt descended the people called Brigantes, as the ancient chronicles of Ireland inform us,'^°^ But he believes the Brigantes of Britain had descended from the family in Ireland. The Brigantes were in the first century one of the most powerful and warlike tribes in Britain. Beside the counties Durham and York, w^iich they occupied, they obtained by conquest the additional ones of West- morland, Cumberland and Lancaster; and they obliged the vanquished to adopt the name of their tribe. Though in possession of this extent of territory, they were success- fully attacked about the year 51 or 52 by the Romans, under the command of Ostorius ; and in consequence of the defeat, a bod}^ of them quitted Britain shortly after and retired to Ireland. ^°^ "♦ Page -15 of the old trariiliition. »<'* Page 279 of the lite. *'<' The Tiiadcj in Carte, p. 21 J, Vaughan's Chronicle in Carte, p. 20f . 132 INQUIRY INTO THE The north-east parts of this island having been previously occupied by their country. men the Damni and Voluntii ;^°7 the north west and county Dublin by the Armoric Gauls, the east coast by the Cauci, Menapii and Coriondi, and the south by British Belgic tribes, the only vacant territory, Avhich then presented itself, extended from the w^est boundary of the Cauci*°^ to the county Clare, north of the Shannon. The greater part of Ireland having then been consequently pre- occupied, necessity obliged them to take up their residence between the German tribes on the east, the Belgse on the south and west, and the Gauls on the north-east and north-west. The county of Waterford having then been probably occupied by the Coriondii, these and the Vodii bounded the Brisiantes on the south. TheCangan or Ceann-Cangi, whether ^^ Richard, page 42. Certissimum est Damnios, Voluntios, Brigantes, Cangos, aliasque nationes, origine fuissc Britannha, qux co postea trajecerunc. And page 45, Non possum iion in hoc loco monere, Damnios, Voluntios, Brigantcs et Cangianos, omnes fuisse Britannha originit nationes, qua:, cum vel ab hostc finkimo non darctur quies, vel tot taiitaque exigerentur tributa quibus soivendis se imparcs intelligerent, ■ in banc terrain trajecerunt. ^,°^ These having left those parts of Leinster unoccupied, in which the Erigantes settled, we may infer that they could not have been long in pos- session of the coait. And as to the S. Bclgx, they were then merely an infant colony. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 133 the Sistuntian or Lancashire subjects of the Brigantes, or a body of the Brigantian shepherds, having accompanied ^°9 the latter tribe, were obhged to plant themselves *^° in that part of ancient Conacht and of the present Munster, called the county Clare; whence they seem to have extended to, or to possess an open communication with, Ossory, the west boundaiy of the Brigantes. The mountainous and comparatively barren tracts of Wicklow, Wexford and Kerry would not long content the ambitious views, nor satisfy the wants of a restless, martial and a growing people. An encroachment would naturally be made upon the frontiers of the Brigantes, whose fertility of soil and probably numerous herds, Avere sufficient motives to attract the rapacity of those *05 The Triadcs : Ostorius, p. 42, Richard, p. 43 and p. 51 . A. M. 4050, circa hxc tempora, relicta Britannia, Cangi et Brigantes in Hiberniam com- niigrarunt, sedesque ibi posuerunt. — Whit. Manch. voL 1 , p. 229. *'<' Mr. Whitaker conceives the plural Cangan or Cangian to mean foresters, and the singular Cane or Gang, to signify a hill or wood, — We may add, that Cean in Celtic signifies a head or chief. Macolkum, a town or fortification which Ptolemy places upon the Shannon, seems from its situation to have been the metropolis of the Ceann-Cangi, whose territory in the County Clare was anciently called Magh Scolidh or Tuadh Mumhain. And as it had been usual among the ancients to transfer the names of tribes or tracts of land to their chief towns, I infer that Ptolemy's Muculicum v/as meant to express the denomination Magb-ieolUb. 13if INQUIIIY INTO THE l^clirsr,*" whose ])roression, both in Gaul, Britain and Ireland, was arms, and whose trade, after the third century, consisted in pillage and devastation. After some of the Armorican settlers had eniigrated to Caledonia, and the principal ]3elgic tribes had crossed the Shannon and possessed themselves of Conacht *" and Ulster, the Brigantes quitted their territory in the northern part of Leinster, and took possession of the deserted region ofWaterford, where, according to Whitaker, " they built ]3rigantia — Waterford, or some town near it, and gave the name of Brigas to the Siur,*^^ their limitary stream on the north, and tlie appellation of Bergie to their own part of the county of Wexford/' In conformity with this account, we are informed by O'Flaherty, chap. 43, that the territory of a certain Belgic chieftain extended from the county Clare as far as Kilkenny. Waterford, enlarged about -" Hence the origin of the bardic history of Ireland, wliich is ahnost entirely jconfined to the seemingly unnatural wars waged between Heber and Hcrcmon, the Ibhearni and East-Munster or the Brigantian people, who arc represented as brothers and sons of Mileadh (soldier.) '■* Beside several inferior Belgic septs, O'Flaherty, Og. p. 1 75, notices three principal ones by whom Conacht, then divided into three parts, was occupied. *^ Or, according to Camden, to the conflux of the rivers .Sifeir, Eoir ar.d Berva, which constitute the haven of Waterford, PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 135 the middle of the ninth century, and called Cattafieord "-* by the Danes, is situate upon the ancient Abhaii Breoghain, the Brigus of Ptolemy. This county, before the arrival of the English, was called Ibh Breoghain, or the country of the Brigantes ; and its inhabitants were denominated Sliochd Breoghain, or the posterity of the Brigantes ;*^-J though these, it is said, were long before expelled from Waterford, by a clan called the DesiL The inscription in old Pelasgic characters hereafter mentioned, and found in the domi- nions of the Brigantes, evinces the ancient Gallo-Grecian source whence those charac- ters emanated, and the accompaniment of British druids with British tribes. Exclusive of those British tribes which passed over from British Roman provinces, a small colony crossed the north channel from the territory of THE PICTS CRUITNIGH. These were a martial people, who inhabited Alba or Caledonia. Some authors assert that tbey were originally Germans ; but Camden ="■♦ Watcrfoid. "J The chief of this family before the arrival of the English was, accord- ing to Camden, culled O'Breoghan or O'Brain ; not O'Ericn. 13G INQUIRY INTO THE concludes, from their customs, mamicrs and language, that they were Britons. Like thei hitter they stained the body with the juice of woad, so as to represent the figures of different kinds of animals,^^^ a custom never practised by the Germans.''^ Like the Britons they wore scarcely any clothing, used military chariots armed with scythes, and did not exclude their women from re2;al command. The whole of their arms consisted of a narrow wicker shield, a sword and lance.*^^ They used no helmet nor breast -plate.*^? They wore hoops of iron round their waists and necks as ornaments ; and estimated them as highly as others did rings of gold.**° Tacitus calls them either Britons, in allusion to their family, or Caledonians, from the name of their country. And, in his life of Agricola, he introduces Galgacus,**^ a Pictish captain, who, in his speech to his soldiers preparing 2"<5 Herodian, L. 3. St. Isidorus, L. 19, C. 23. '^^ Among the Goths in general the Geloni or Get.-e were perhaps the only Scythians who pahited themselves. *« Herodian, L. 3. ^9 Idem. ^ Idem. '*' This name was perhaps the Roman imitation of Galgadh, an Irish appellation for a champion. — It appears from passages in his speech that no tradition of a Scandinavian or German origin remained among them : — ' there is no land beyond this, no people, nothing but waves and rocks : we inhabit the extremity of the world :'— ct nullse ultri terrse, — nulla jam ultri gens, nihil nisi fluctus et saxa — nos tcrrarum — cxtremos, &r. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 137 to oppose Agricola, speaks of Britain as their country, and of its inhabitants as their countrymen. Agricola, also, on addressing his army, observes : ' if you had a new people or strange troops to contend with, I would encourage you by the example of other armies ; but now you have only to recollect your former exploits, and to ask your own eyes whether these people are not the same who last year attacked the 9'^ legion. — Of all the Britons these are the most fugitive, and they have therefore continued to exist. — The bravest of them have long since fallen ; the remainder are inactive and timorous.'*** As thePicts continued to be a nation until the Scots subdued them in the ninth century, the opinion of writers cotemporary with the Picts, should in this age be considered of some weight. Beside the testimony of Martial and Tacitus in the first century, we have the authority of Dio, about the end of the first, of Ilerodian in the second, of Vopiscus about '" C C. Tac. Agric. S-S-l. Si nova gcntesatque ignota acies constitisset; aliorum exercituum exemplis vos hortarer : nunc vestra decora rcccnsctc : vcstros oculos interrogate. li sunt quos proximo anno nonam legioncm furto noctis adgressos, — ii ccterorum Britannonim fugacissimi, idcoque tam diu superstites. — Sic accrrimi Britunnorum jam pridcm cecidcrunt: reliquns est rumerus ignavorum ct mctucntium. T \^S INQUIRY INTO THE the end of the tiiird, and of Zosymns about the beoinnintr of the fifth, for believing them to be of British descent. ' In the year of the Incarnation 296, when Constantius Chlorus had defeated them, they were first called Picts, in a panegyric pronounced before him in Autun in Gaul, by Eumenius the rhetorician. — And they were stigmatized by the Roman Britons as Picti, or a painted people, after the introduction of Christianity into Britain, when the south inhabitants were in a great measure Romanized in language, manners and customs, and when they probably consi- dered their north countrymen in the light of barbarous strangers. But, although the testimony of those authors had not descended to us in support of their British origin, it may notwithstanding be infen-ed from the following facts; viz. the crowded population of Britain in the time of Julius Caesar ;**3 the change of situation incident to a pastoral life, as well as from the vis a tergo consequent upon the renewed emigration from Gaul. They kept up a con- stant intercourse with the north of Ireland, .suffered Irish colonies to dwell on the south- **^ Vid. his Comment. Xiphilirus et Dio on Nero. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 139 west confines of their country ; and some of them in turn were also permitted to settle in the north of Ireland. The British origin of their language may be also inferred from the Celtic names of places in Caledonia, 'and fi'om the circumstance of the Picts having been instructed in the Christian religion by Irish pastors, who founded monasteries in Hy — Aoi, an island. In Ireland thej first settled, and probably in the third century, if not earlier, in Da'l na ruidhe, and afterward removed to Magh Plagha, the present barony of Boyle in the county Roscommon. The Irish appellation for a Pict is Cruitncach, which some think a corruption of Britneach, a Briton ; but B and C were never used in the Irish language as commutable letters. Cruitneach means both a humpy man and a Pict, and both have the same plural, Cruitnigh .-^^^ hence it is pro- bable that the name was applied to them in derision, and perhaps in consequence of the Picts having sent liither the infirm and de- formed inhabitants of Argyle to make room for the efficient Irish troops, which settled there. *^ Caledonia was by the Irish called AHj and CruUhin tuaitb, literally, »h« country of the Pictt or that of the crump-shouldered or humpy people. 140 INQUIRY INTO THE The Damni, who settled at an early period in the north of Ireland, were probably Picts, or painted Britons. These, it may be supposed, had formed an alliance with their Caledonian countrymen before either attracted the notice of authors. Both are said to have joined in predatory excursions aiiainst Britain about the middle of the first century ; but the authors quoted by Hanmer upon this subject have erred in their narra- tives ;**-^ and the insinuation of Eumenius in respect to the Irish having joined the Pictish forces before the invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar, is merely matter of conjecture. The first authentic account does not go farther back than the beginning of the second century, from which period to the middle of the fifth century, Roman writers, though they omit many minor depredations, inform us of those remarkable ones committed by the Caledonians and Irish in Britain. ^> Among the generals who commanded in Britahi under Claudius, I do not find any mention of Maiius, the son of Arviragus, a Briton, who, they say, had been engaged nine years in war with the Picts and Scots ; neither can I find the Picts distinguished by this name from the Britons before the tliird century. Arviragus, according to Juvenal, reigned over part of Britain by pcrnussion of Domitian. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 141 THE FINLANDERS — PEINE EIRIONN *> IRISH MILITIA. The Finns, a people of European Sarmatia, were placed bj Ptolemy in the site of north Prussia, whence they emigrated to Finnland. They were supposed to have been a sept of the Venedi, and, consequently, to have used the Sclavonic, or a dialect of that primitive language. Induced either by a prospect of plunder or of a new settlement, they proba- bly accompanied the Nordmen to Ireland in the ninth century ; and they are stated to have settled in various parts of the island ; but, it is probable that they planted them- selves in the barony of Fermoy — Fearmoighe, and in the half barony of Condons, in the south of Ireland. Hence, the old name of this district was Magh Feine, and that of its inhabitants Fir fnaighe Feine, the people of the territory of the Finns. Part of this district is now called Roche's country — Criocha Roisteach, in which a mountain commanding an extensive and delightful view of this district and of some lofty mountains in Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, is still named suighecm na miia Fionne, or the seat of Fingal's consort. Part 14)^ INQOIRY" INTO THIi of this tribe is said to have settled in Leinster, and part, called Clanna Baiscine, occupied a barony in the west of the county Clare. Their military character induced the Irish toparchs to employ them in protecting their coasts from the invasion of the Danes, who, it appears, were afterward permitted, through the intercession of the Finns, to hold a commercial intercourse with the Irish. In the book of Howth and that called Catha Fionntragha, the battles of Ventry,*^^^ the stations and the names of the officers of the respective coasts are mentioned. And, as there is no historic evidence that, after Ireland had been colonized from Britain and Gaul, it had been invaded by any people with the view of forming a settlement, except the Picts, or by any pirates before the eighth century, when the Nordmen first arrived, the estab- lishment of this militia is a presumptive proof that the Feine Eirionn were not appointed before the ninth ; and the prefixes uinc and ua or O, attached to the names of their officers, are evidence that they were not appointed before the eleventh century, as it was in the '^ Although the authenticity of those battles is questioned, the account of the military stations may be correct. *• PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 143 commencement of it that Bricn Boiroimhe established them for the distinction of famihes. Saxo Grammaticus says that the Finn and Finni were a great sept in Denmark, * hardy, stalworth men given to preying and burning of towne and country. '**7 From the frequent mention of those Danes or the people of Lochlin in those poems ascribed to Ossian, it may be inferred that the Finns were coeval with them in Ireland, as the latter were not known to the Irish before the eighth century. According to the book of Howth, Dun Domh mac riogh mor, or Dun Domh, son of the great king, was a king of the sept of Fion mac Cumhail — Fingal, and resided at Limerick — Luimneach. While the Finns were gar- risoned on the coasts**^ under the command of Fionn mac Cumhail, they were quartered upon the inhabitants from November until May,**9 and during the remainder of the year they subsisted by hunting and fishing.*3o **' Hdnmer's Chronicle, page 48. *^ Keating's old translation, page 135, informs us that the number of standing forces in the time of peace amounted to three battalions; in war to teven, and each contained three thousand men. Among the curious military regulations enjoined by Fionn (Keating, p. 136) each candidate, for admission into his militia, was required to be a poet and enabled to extract a thorn from his foot, though in full speed ! 144 INQUIRY INTO THE Fionn mac Cumliail, as a superior officer, was chosen by the bards, as the hero of detached pieces, which were composed about the thirteenth century. Tlic most ancient of those documents, it is said, are in the Bodleian library, and these, according to the testimony of Mr. Price, the librarian, were unintelligible to Mr.Macpherson. The Scotch edition is judged from the style and the use of the letters k, w, X, y, z not to be older than the four- teenth century. But, in order to give them an air of antiquity and to establish Alba or Caledonia as the maternal country of Ossian Oisin, interpolations are artfully used, in addition to those rhetorical figures called metaphor, metaplasm and metastasis. It is now justly considered more than doubtful that Ossian was the author of any of those poems, or, that as a warrior, he deserved the praise, which is lavished upon him. At all events, the most ancient of those fragments are in point of sentiment or imagery, greatly ^»*o One of our bards has committed an unlucky anachronism in informing U9 that Art or Arthur, who is supposed to have reigned in the south of Ireland in the third century, had, among other presents, given money to Fingal; for coin was not in use among the ancient Irish. O'Halloran's Introduction, vol. a, page 2J6. w Keating, old translation, page 133. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 145 inferior to the pretended version by Mr. Macpherson, whose modest endeavour to adorn Ossian's brows with a crown of laurel, is acknowledged to merit a similar honour for his own. It may be reasonably supposed that the time, which intervened between the first and the eighth century, had produced some amelioration of manners in Finland; but the picture given of its inhabitants, when in Ireland, is nearly a copy of the archetype which Tacitus drew in the first century. At this remote time their mode of life differed but little from that of the wild animals which they chased. Clad in skins they lived in a filthy state of poverty, devoid of houses, horses, and even of every kind of arms except arrows, tipped with bone. They lived upon herbs and the produce of the chase, in which they were accompanied by their wives, as they had no fixed place of abode. They slept upon the ground, and the only protection for old age and infancy, from the attack of wild beasts, and the inclemency of the weather, was a sort of wattled work made of interwoven branches. Ignorant of divine powers, they feared not u Id-fi INQUIRY INTO THE tlie wrath of licavcn : possessing nothing but their liberty, they had no fear of man. And, as they knew no mode of life but that which they followed, habit made them content with the custom of Finland.^^i In Ireland their huts or tents must have been of a very temporary nature, as they were erected in the evening, and after they had dined. The materials of their bedding were the ' branches of trees, placed next the ground, upon which they laid a quantity of dry moss, and upon the top of all a bundle of green rushes/ The}^ lighted their fires and dressed their food in the open air, and several of those rude hearths, called Falachda na bhfeine, containing charcoal and small siliceous sooty stones, are frequently uncovered by the plough or spade, near the banks of rivulets in many parts of the south of Ireland. ^^* «3» Tac. de Germ. S. 46. ^3* The ore called manganese is, however, sometimes mistaken for them by peasants. The old translation of Keating, page 133, informs us that they were in the habit of digging two large pits, of which one was intended for ablution ; the other for cooking. * They kindled large fires into which they threw red hot stones as a pavement. The flesh bound up in green sedge or bull-rushes, was laid upon these : over them was fixed another layer of hot stones, then a quantity of flesh, and this method was observed till the pit was full. They never ate but once in twenty-four hours, and always in the evening.* PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 147 Their valour was displajed in wars with the Russians ; and that of Fingal's sept in Ireland is still a frequent topic in poetry as well as in discourse. Tacitus calls them Finni; the Irish Feinne. In this island they were celebrated for their skill in medicinal herbs, their taste for poetry *33 and romance. And it is probable that either they or the Damnii introduced the northern belief in sorcery. THE EMIGRATION OP IRISH COLONIES TO CALEDONIA. It is probable that some Irish tribes or septs had at two different seras formed a settlement in Caledonia. The first body, as • I have already stated, were probably a sept of the Irish Damnii, called Attacotti — Attachtuatha, which Avere found associated with the Caledonian Damnii about the middle of the fourth century. And the date of •^ The Finnish poetry, called Runic, is full of alliteration, and that which is most esteemed and is most difficult among the Irish bards, resemble* it in a similar play upon words and letters, Cce Heating's Hist, late translation, page 303. 14S INQUIRY INTO THE their settlement may be conjectured from the omission of their name by PHny in the first, and by Ptolemy in the second centuries, compared with the account of Ammianus Marcellinus and St. Jerome, and with that of Richard, who fixes their departure from Ireland, A. D. 320.^^ That of the second may be likewise discovered by inference from history. A species of vanity natural to human nature induced some Scottish writers to forge aeras for the settlement of Irish septs, in Caledonia. One was fixed by some at 356 years before the incarnation ; but the calculation of Hector Baethius who dates it at 330 before Christ, is more generally believed in Scotland. Yet, the computation of time by the christian aera was not adopted in Britain nor in Ireland before the eighth century ; neither were letters nor figures used in North Britain before the eleventh century, except within the exclusive walls of a few monasteries. Irish writers, though unable to reconcile their histories to the account of the venerable *34 See also, Hist. d'Irlande par M. I'Abbe Mac Geoghegan, page 144, • La premiere colonie des Scoto Milesicns qui s'etablit en Albanie, fus conduite, au commencement du troisieme siecle par Cairbre,' &c. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 149 Bede, agree that there had been such a person as Rieda or Riada,*^-^ from whom, he truly says, the Dal Reudini obtained their denomi- nation ; but affirm that nearly three centuries intervened between the sera of the expedition to Caledonia and the time of this chieftain. Consequently, that Bede, ignorant of the fact, had used a patronymic name in place of those of the real leaders, who, they affirm were three brothers, named Loarne, Fergus and Mneas, the sons of Erc.*3<5 But the denomination by which they were known in Ireland, in the fourth and fifth centuries, and in Caledonia from the commencement of the sixth to the present time, seems to prove the truth of Bedels assertion ; at least with respect to the second settlement. That county in the present Scotland, called Argyleshire — Ard Gain, the highlands of the Gauls or Irish, or, according to Mr. Macpherson, lar-Gael — West Gaul, and its narrow peninsula denominated Can tyre — Ceami-tir, the head land, were from that chieftain denominated, as in Ireland, Dal Riada, corrupted in the 'JS Called Reuda by Bede, Eccles. Hist. L. 1, C. 1. '^^ If any faith can be put in this relation of O'flahcrty, it must allude to the prior settlement.— Ogyg. page 470. 160 INQUIRY INTO THE eighth century into Da I Ricdin, since into Rheudisclale, and now into Riddesdale; all signifying the territory of Riada.^^'^ The contradictory genealogy of Riada's family, as it is described by Irish and Cale- donian writers,j^38 and their confused chrono- logy, wilh regard to the aira of the Irish expedition to Alba, reduce us to the neces- sity of endeavouring to acquire information upon this subject by inferences from facts. The Britons, deprived of their martial youth by Constantino and Maximus, wrote to jEtius, who was then, A.D. 451, a real or honorary consul in Gaul, requesting aid against the combined Picts and Scots, and informing him that they were hemmed in between these barbarians and the sea ; a situation which left them but the choice of two deaths. iEtius being unable to relieve them, the Britons succeeded, by desperate efforts, in repelling those barbarians. Gildas a reputable writer of the sixth century, re- moved from Britain to Armorica, where he *" According to Irish history, Carbre Riada was a descendant of the Ernaigh or Erdini of Ptolemy, who, having been expelled from Ulster by the Clanna Rughruidhc, a Belgic sept, settled in Munster, whence they, were afterwards driven to the N. E. of Ireland, by another Belgic sept. »3« Vide Ogyg. page 469. PRTMITIVE INHABITANTS. 151 finished his work upon British transactions, in which he reprobates the conduct of the British kings of that time. The Britons having been victorious in the third and last devastation, Gildas informs us, that ' the impudent Irish spohators returned home with a design of soon coming back/*39 — And, lest the home he alluded to should be misunderstood, he previously informs us that the Britons were for many years harassed by those two transmarine nations, the Scots from the south and thePicts from the north.*^° It therefore appears to be evident that in the year 451, the Dal Riada had not settled in Ard Gain, otherwise they would not be said to have gone home to Ireland. When we reflect on the frequent wars which occurred between the Armoric Gauls, the Damnii, the Voluntii, and the Belgae, it seems not improbable that some of each of those tribes had passed over and settled in Caledonia at different times. The names of places occupied by those Irish emigrants manifest the country whence ** Gildas quoted by Bede : ' revertuntur impudente* grassatores Hiberni domum, post non longum tempus rcversuri.' Bede, I.. 1, C. 14. **° Gildas apud Usscr. C. 15, p. 593. — * duabus primiim gcntibus trans- marlnis vehcmcnter exvis, Scotorum ^ circio, Pictonim ab aquilone calcabilii, multos itupet gcmitque anno*. 152 INQUIRY INTO THE they came. Part of Argyle was known by the name of lerna, and the Hebrides were called Erin. Foreigners denominated the highlands Hibernia, and their inhabitants Hiherni^ as late as the eleventh century ; and the Lowlanders called them Irish. And after the destruction of the Picts, which occurred in the ninth century, the name, Scotia or Scotland, by which Ireland was known, from the third to the fifteenth century, was transferred to the whole of North Britain. The only additional information which I have met with upon this subject, may be inferred from the date of the ARRIVAL OF THE SAXONS IN BRITAIN, The venerable Bede informs us, that the first Saxon body arrived in Britain A.D. 449, and the third body in 452. The Britons, according to him, sent in the twenty-third year^4s of Valentinian, a supplicatory letter to iEtius, then in Gaul, soliciting aid against the Picts and Scots. This event, from his calculation, must have occurred A. D. 448, for Valentinian was crowned A.D. 425. But, »4< L. I, C. li. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 153 according to the most authentic chronology, jEtius marched from Italy to oppose Attila, A. D. 451 ; and Attila, in the same year, commanded an army of Hmis in Gaul, whence, after having been defeated by^Etius, he entered Italy A. D. 452. Consequently, if the Britons in 451 applied for aid to ^Etius, when opposing the Huns in Gaul, the Saxons could not have been settled in Britain, A.D. 449, nor could the Britons have sent that letter before the twenty-sixth year of Valentinian. After the Romans had finally withdrawn their own and the efficient British troops from their island, the Britons, apprehending renewed attacks by the Picts and Scots, and despairing of aid from Rome, invited to a settlement among them, those Anglo-Saxons whose valour they had previously experienced in piratical incursions into Britain. These foreign forces, from the neck of the Cimbric Chersonesus, and the three small islands, now called the North Strand t, Busen and Heiligland, arrived in three separate bodies; the first probably, A,D. 452, when Bede introduces the third body of that nation, and the year after ^tius had refused to aid the Britons. The first body had scarcely rested w lS4t INQUIRY INTO THE "when it Avas led against the Picts, who had formed a settlement in Lincolnshire. And the third body, not waiting for Pictish aggression, pillaged the Orcades, the present Orkneys, and drove the Picts beyond the con- fines of Northumberland. To prevent their return, these Saxons formed a settlement near the river Tyne, whence they afterward extended their territory to the Humber. The Saxon steadiness in battle, and their close method of lighting with the short and crooked sword, terrified the naked and bare- headed Picts, who had been lately repelled by the Britons alone. Finding a new and ferocious enemy, more formidable than the Romans to contend with, the Picts may be naturally supposed to court the protection of those allies, theGaill, by whose co-operation they had so often and so successfully pillaged the deserted Britons of those days. And, in order to render their alliance more effectual, it is probable they invited them to settle ill those parts of Caledonia, where history has placed them, and whither the passage from the north-east of Ireland would have been, even in corachs, but a voyage of a few hours duration. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS, 155 The circumstance of the Gaill having settled in Caledonia, about the time of the arrival of the Saxons in Britain, induces me to believe that the same motives, which actuated the Britons to invite the Saxons, stimulated the Picts to induce the Gaill to fix upon a settlement on the opposite coa&t of Caledonia. And, accordingly, our later Irish chronoloo;ists introduce thither a second colony from Ireland,*^^ after the Saxons had been received into Britain. And it is highly probable, that the old and decrepit Picts, who settled in Da'l na Ruidhe, a district more anciently occupied by a colony from their country, were expelled to that deserted ter- ritory, to make room for those tried troops. These seem to have been composed of Belgic, the Damnian and Armoric tribes. The last were probably the Da'l Araidhe, of which I suppose the Da'l Riada to have been a sept. These by Irish writers were called, as I have already obsei'ved in a note, Degaidh or Ernaigh, who, whatever the cause had been, emigrated from their north-west terri- tory in Conacht to those parts of the south- MJ Ogyg. p. 470, &.C. A. D. 502. 15Q INQUIRY INTO THE west of Ireland, which had been deserted by the victorious Belga^. But, in the course of time, they quitted their south settlement and aoain roved to the north, where the Da'l Riada seem to have joined those Gallic tribes denominated Da'l na Ruidhe and Da'J Araidhe. It may be supposed that similar motives had existed in the time of the Romans to induce the Picts to wish for an Irish esta- blishment in Caledonia. Accordingly, some native historians fix an Irish colony there about the year 211,'*^ Richard A. D. 320, Ammianus Marcellinus and St. Jerome in the fourth century. And they continued in peace- able possession of that part of the Pictish dominions called Ardgyle, and some territory in its vicinity, including the south-west coast of Valentia, until the continued aggression of the Picts, and of this people, induced Theodosius the elder to seize upon Valentia about the middle of the fourth century .^^'^ To assist an inquiry into the origin of the Irish people, it becomes necessary to notice the time of the separation of all the septs from **3 HUt. d'lrlaude, page 144. *** Sec page 85 and page 86 of thi» Inquiry. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 157 the main body in Britain, and to pursue them into their retreats. Among those Cehic colo- nies history gives but a brief account of the Britons, who emigrated at different times to ARMORICA AR MUIR, (literally, UPON THE SEA,) WALES AND CORNWALL. Lhuyd, quoting the Triades of Britain, affirms, * it is certain the Britons went hence to Armorica in the year 384/ Rapin says, about the year 37 S,*^* or in 382^ according to others, when Maximus assumed the purple in Britain ; soon after which aera, he appointed Conan Meriodoch, one of his lieutenants, a count over Armorica. This territory and Picardy, according to Gildas, Nennius, and Giraldus Cambrensis, were assigned to British youth by Maximus, in consideration of their military services. And though historians are not exactly agreed upon the particular year of their settlement, the narration of Zosymus, who wrote early in the fifth century relative to the efforts made by them to shake off the Roman yoke, **» According to Gildas and Bede, many Britons, to avoid famine, fled thither in sonic intermediate time after the departure of the Romans »nd before the arrival of the Saxocv. ISS INQUIRY INTO THE tends to prove that the time could not liave been much later than the dates assigned by Lhuvd and Rapin. As an additional cor- roboration, we find that Mansuetiis in the council of Tours, which was held A.D. 461, subscribed himself episcopus Britanoru7n, or bishop of the Armorican Britons. Gildas and Bede inform us, that it received other bodies from Britain, between the years 458 and 465. Notwithstanding the silence of history with regard to a more early British settlement in Armorica, it is likely that a colony from Britain had fixed itself there soon after the defeat of the Armoricans by the Romans. This inference may be drawn, from the appellation of Britons applied to this people by Juvenal *46 and Martial,*^; in the first century; from that of Britannia, bestowed upon a tribe on the borders of Flanders and Picardy, by Dionysius the geographer and Pliny the naturalist ; and also from the dereliction of Armorica in the preceding century. Further, it is unlikely that this region continued vacant during three or four centuries in so populous a country as Gaul ; '«" Inv. ij, 124. QuS, nee tcrribiles Cimbri, nee Britones unquam. '**" Mart. IJ, 21, Quim vetercs brace* Britonis pauperis, ct qu4m — rillMITIVE INHABITANTS. 159 and it is as improbable, admitting it had been occupied by any other tribes, that they should have been so completely expelled by bands of British exiles, as not to have left any memorial of their family, name or existence. Probably the experience of Roman tyranny incited those Britons to pass over to the vacant lands of their ancient alhes. About the year 584, or A.D . 590, according to Powel's Welsh Chronicle, the remaining. Britons, upon the arrival of a large army of Angles headed by Crida, quitted their pos- sessions in the interior of Britain, and retired to the mountains of Wales and Cornwal. RELIGION. Mr. Hume and other authors believed that the Grecian and Roman writers erred, in supposing that the Gauls and Germans were acquainted with their mythology. And their opinion, founded probably upon the bar- barity of those nations, and upon their ignorance of the civilization of other states, appears at first view to be well grounded. On the other hand, it can scarcely be doubted, l60 INQUIRY INTO THE that the knowledge of those Grecian and Roman writers in heathen mythology enabled them to discriminate and to recognize their own deities where their peculiar rites and forms of worship were practised. Persuaded that those gods of the east were worshipped anciently under other names, not only in Gaul and Germany, but in Britain and Ireland, I shall endeavour to account for their introduction. All authors agree that if the Athenians or Phoceans of the Ionian Isles, disdaining their state of servitude to Persian masters, had not emigrated to Marseilles, in the year l64 of Rome, they at least settled there at a remote time. They founded in that city an academy, in which several Gallic and Roman youth had been educated. The Greek characters and language Avere used here for ages. From the intercourse of those Greeks with the Persians, they seem, in addition to their own rites, to have borrowed much of the Persian worship, which was communicated to, and practised, perhaps with some trifling change, by the Druids of Gaul. The resemblance between the Persian and Druidic is so striking that a description of the former, clearly evinces it to have PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. l6l been the source of the latter. It is therefore probable, that Aristotle erred, in supposing that the Greeks were instructed by the Gallic Druids in their mysteries ; for, a religion accompanied with such rites could not have originated among savage people. The same reasoning applies to Pliny : for the celebrity of the Druidic rites in Britain, in his time, did not warrant the inference drawn by him, that the Persians might have consequently received those rites from the British. ^^s Among the ancient Magi there were three orders of priests, of whom the archi magus or high priest was considered the successor of Zoroaster : they were learned in mathematics, astrononi}', and natural philosophy. They were averse to the instructing of strangers in their religion, ancient language or its charac- ters, and even concealed their knowledge from their own countrymen, except the royal family and those destined for the priesthood. In celebrating the rites of their church, the priest, clad in white rayment, held in his left hand the twigs of a sacred tree, which he threw into the fire on the conclusion ^8 < Britannia hodieruie earn (Magiam) attonite celebrat tantis ccrcinoniis, m cam Pert'u dediise vidcri possit.' X 16^ INQUIRY INTO THE of service. The Persians iind Greeks^49 anciently adored the sun, to which the former sacrificed horses as other nations did bulls ; and upon extraordinary occasions they inunolated human beings. Originally the Persians had no temples, but reared on the summit of mountains, altars, on which they preserved sacred fires. Before these they administered oaths. In those remote times they also adored the moon as well as fire.*-^° Herodotus says, they considered the air or wind, as the Athenians and some of the Romans did, in the light of a deity ; and it may be inferred, from their aversion to inhumation, that they venerated the earth. The GalHc priests were also distinguished into three orders: druids, prophets and bards. And they had also their archimagus, or chief priest. The Druids, or the Celtic Draoi, were pro- bably tlie same as the Irish Cruim-thearigh,*^^ or priests of J upiter : a lofty oak, which was also consecrated to him by the Romans, was their idol. They conceived the viscum '^o The sun, moon and starb were once worshipped in Greece, according to Plato. **" Le grand Dictionnaire, voce Fenet. ^*' Cruini, thunder. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 163 album, or niisleto, a parasitic plant, seldom produced by that tree, a present from heaven, which thej administered in various diseases. Pliny informs us, that the Druidic priest, covered with a white vestment, used to climb up the tree, and with a golden hook cut oft' the misleto, which he received upon a white cloak. According to this author, they also administered in disorders of cows and swine, the Lycopodium selago, or the fir-club-moss ; which they plucked with the right, and the Samolus Valerandi, brook-weed, which they gathered with the left hand. — They were divines, astronomers, geometricians* geographers and politicians. They embraced the opinion of Pythagoras, respecting the immortality and transmigration of souls.*-^* They used the ancient Greek characters, the form and power of which they were probably unacquainted with prior to the settlement of the Phoceans at Marseilles, from whom it is likely they also learned the worship of the oak, which the Greeks called drus, the Gauls dent, the British dru, the Saxons drij, and the Irish dair or dui7\ And this was probably *j* DIodor. opera, Pytliagorx apud illos opinio invaluit quod inimjc bominum immortalet in aliud ingressx corpus, definite tempore denuo vLtam capctsant. 164 INQUIRY INTO THE the tree which the Persians considered sacred. The Druids committed nothing to writing ; but like some of the Greeks, instructed in verse, which their pupils committed to me- mory. According to Strabo, their presence was alwa3^s recpiired at sacrifices. The Druidic sect comprehended the Saronidae, 2«5*yik'— hollow oaks. These were civil judges and teachers of youth. The prophets called Eubages,^-^'' and by the Greeks Semnothes — 2e^»o5e«<, worshippers of God, were moral philosophers and astro- logers. It was their duty to attend to divine subjects solely, to minister at the altar, and upon important occasions to sacrifice human victims.^-^4 These w^ere the priests of Apollo. They worshipped his idol, which was repre- sented under the appearance of both sexes, as symbolic of animated nature. When the oracles of this god promised a victory, Herod ian sa3^s, it was customary to carry the idols about from place to place. These idols were heads with open months, and hair diverging in the form of rays. 'W Derived, perhaps, from ua, oifspring, and baiJhe, prediction. '^* Those immolated persons were stabbed with a sword through the diaphram, according to Diodorus, or through the back, according to Strabo- On matters of less moment they used auguries and the bowels of other animal* in divination, PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. l65 In some parts of Gaul, the sun was wor- shipped under the Persian Uc^nie of Mithras ; in others under that of Belis or Belenos. This last denomination, according to Elias Schedius on the German gods, implied a mystery; for, on calculating the Grecian numeral power of the letters, he discovered that the word denotes the annual number of days w hich the earth requires in moving round the sun : an epsilon, however, is gee 1 into an eta. B 11 X i r e ? 2 8 30 5 50 70 200 In the year 1598, a round and hollow stone, which in form resembled a keg, w^as dug up near Dijon. This enclosed a glass vessel, painted with various lively colours. The following arrogant lines were engraved upon the stone in two circles resembling a crown : JAtSfvii h oayuot yfiit-ai. to' piccionary of the Heathen Godf. FRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 177 the moon, and the wind ; and they had also their mountain and river gods.*"" Most of those were derived immediately from Britain, but some directly, and all remotely from Gaul. Jocelin, in his life of St. Patrick, informs us, that the Irish also worshipped an idol of oold and silver called Ceann-Croithi, or, according to others, Crom-Cruach, which ' it is said, signified the heads of all the gods. These, as in Gaul and Germany, were adored under Celtic and Gothic names, Avere twelve in number,''^ made of brass, and they sur- rounded the carved idol of gold and silver.*"* They also w^orshipped the idol of stone, called Clock -oh', or the stone of gold ; whence the name of a town, in the county Tyrone, called Clooher. Another stone was likewise an object of adoration among the ancient Irish : its ap- pellation was Lia-fatl, or the stone of destiny. This, to which many wonders were ascribed, was transported from Ireland to Scotland, and thence to Westminster Abbey, where it is said to be now fixed to the bottom of the old-fashioned coronation chair of our kings.*^ »M Antiq. Hib. C. 5. ~ »« Their names have not descended to posterity. In point of number they agree exactly with the ConsenUi of the Romans, who, according to Ennjus, were twelve superior divinities constituting the council of Jupiter. »7<5 Ogyg. page 198. *^ Vide page 23. Z 178 INQUIRY INTO TMIt The common oath in Ireland was, by the sun and moon, or, by the sun, wind and elements.*'^ O'Flaherty informs us, that the chief persons of Ireland in the second century swore allegiance to O'Tool, by the sun, moon, and other deities celestial and terrestrial.'" The first christian converters in Ireland finding that the Pagans of this isle had some conceptions, though erroneous, of heaven and hell, adopted, with the view of lessening the obstacles to conversion, those Celtic appella- tions for both, which they found here in use. And these names are still continued by the Irish, who are as ignorant of their origin or original import, as the generality of the English are of the present names of our ■week-days, being equally heathen. One of those denominations is Fiath-Innh, now pronounced Flath-oo-nas— heaven ; the literal meaning of which is, the Island of the Lord or Governor. In this island, the Druids supposed, ' there was an eternal spring and an immortal youth : the smi shed always there its kindest influence. Gentle breezes fanned it, and streams of ever equal currents watered it. The trees were alive with music, See p. 12S, note '9* of this Inquiry. *'» Ogyg. page 304. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 179 and bending to the ground with flowers and fruit. The face of nature, always unruffled and serene, diffused on every creature happi- ness, and wore a perfect smile of joy ; whilst the inhabitants, strangers to every thing that could give pain, enjoyed one eternal scene of calm festivity and gladness. In short, every disagreeable idea was removed from the Druidic Flath-innis. The situation of this place seems to have been in some calm upper region, beyond the reach of every evil which infests this lower world.' The belief in this Celtic heaven not only inspired this people with courage, but with a degree of rashness in encountering dagger, to w^hich other nations were utter stranoers. The Druidic hell was called I-fur-in, contracted from Ibh-fiiar-in — the island of the cold land. This was believed * to be a dark, dismal region, which no ray of light ever visited. It was infested with every animal of the vile and venomous kind. There serpents stung and hissed, lions roared and wolves devoured. The most criminal were confined to caverns or lower dungeons, still more horrible: in the bottom of these they were almost immersed in snakes, whilst the roof constantly distilled poison. The cold 180 INQUIRY INTO THE too vas so intense, in all these thrilling regions of thick ribbed ice, that the bodies of the inhabitants, which were supposed to be of a gross and cloggy nature, on account of their guilt, might have been in a moment frozen to death, if it were possible for death to relieve them/** The remaining terms, connected with the Christian religion, which were not known to those Pagans, are derived from the Roman language. LANGUAGE. The primitive Celtic in Gaul, probably suffered some corruption before and after the first century, from the partial intercourse of its inhabitants, the Celtjie, with the Aquitani, the Belgae, the Phocean Greeks, and the Roman colonists, who differed in languages, customs and manners. The most ancient Britons, on the other hand, having, according to Richard, emigrated from Gaul *** Dictionar)' of the Heathen Godi. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 181 1000 years before Christ, may be supposed to have transported their language in greater purity. These, however, in succeeding ages, were followed by later adventurers, from the same country, who mingled the corruption of Gaul with the British Celtic, which, in after ages, became a dialect resembling the Gallic of the first century .''' After Britain had been peopled with those Celtic and Belgic Gauls, some of the first settlers were probably compelled by the later adventurers to pass over to Ireland, whither, it may be reasonably supposed, they trans- ported the Celtic without foreign admixture. And as Ireland naturally presented a more fertile soil and a milder climate than the north of Britain, it is likely it received inhabitants before the latter. Exclusive of the causes, which tended to operate before and after the first century, in corrupting the Celtic of Britain, the inter- course with the Romans, their auxiliaries, who were chiefly Germans, and with other foreio-n settlers during five centuries, tended still more to effect a change. In Ireland, it is probable, some alteration had also been effected by time, before the arrival of the **' Tac Agric. S. 11. Sermo haud multum diteriui, 182 INQUIRY INTO THE Belgoe, which occurred in the first centur}^ and a still further alteration before the feras of the emigration from Britain to Armorica, Wales and Cornwall. But, if Mr. Llhuyd be correct in asserting, that the language of the Brigantes of Cumberland resembled the Irish more than the British of Wales, or that of Cornwall, it may be inferred that the Belgae, who were engaged chiefly with the Brigantes, the principal Celtic tribe in Ireland, had not only learned their dialect, but diffused it through all the conquered provinces of this country. • In the first century the British tongue, according to Tacitus, differed but little from the Gallic,^' or in other words, w^as but a dialect of it. And' in the twelfth, Giraldus Cambrensis informs us, that the descendants of those Britons, who in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth century had settled in Armorica, were intelligible to those of Wales and Cornwall,'^' who retired thither from Saxon tyranny in the sixth and seventh. It hence follows, that the British tongue had suffered *» See. 11. - *3 Cambria descrip. L. 6. Cornubienses vero et Armoricani Britonum liiigua utuntur fere persimili, Cambris tamcn propter originem et convenien- tiim in multis adhuc et fere cunctii intelligibili, — -Et annotatio in Cap. 1 Cambr. Dei. David Povcli. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 185 no considerable chanoe between the first and twelfth, or during eleven centuries, either in Armorica or Britain. On the other hand, it appears, that the dialect of the Irish, and of the high land of Caledonia, compared with those dialects of the former septs, or with the Pictish, was so dissimilar in the eighth century as to have been considered a different language;"^ whence it may be concluded that the first British settlement in Ireland had been long anterior to that of Armorica ; but the most likely cause was the prevalence in Ireland of the Brio-antian lanouao-e, which was a dialect of the Celtae, more free from the Cimbric mixture in the Welsh and from the Belgic mixture in the Cornish and Armorican, than any of these tongues. The difference between the Irish dialect and that of either of the other septs may be in part owing also to collateral causes. The Cimbri of Britain, the Roman German allies and other German settlers in Britain, probably ^* Though the affinity was then probably remote, the venerable Bede and others erred in their opinion, for Bishop Nicolson says that out of four hundred and thirty Irish words, one hundred and sixty agree in meaning and sound with the British or Welsh. In the Mixture of Fable and Fact, p. 39. a few British sentences are extracted from the letter A to E, in Baxter*! Glossary, which are manifestly Irish also. 184 INQUIRY INTO THE used dialects different from those of the Eelgae and Cauci of Ireland.""^ Hence the greater and different Gothic corruption of the British varied from the Gothic corruption ofthclrish; as theGotliic Cimbric of Iceland varied from the other Gothic dialects of the Norwegians, Danes and Swedes, or as either of these differed from the other. The intercourse between the Picts and Scots of Ireland with the Britons, from the first to the fifth century, if not for centuries before the first, having been of a hostile nature, it not only tended to prevent an assimilation of dialects, but to preserve their respective corruptions un- mixed.'*' And we may infer from the secession of the Picts from the South Britons, their enmity to them after the Roman invasion, and *'^ Inquiry touching the diversity of languages, by Edward Brerewood, professor of astronomy, page 'il. Of fourteen languages or mother tongues, this author considers the old Cauchian in East Frisian d one, although the Cauchi spoke Dutch also. 28C "pj^g jjggp affinity between the British dialects is an argument in favour of the short time of separation of those tribes or septs. A distant affinity on the other hand, would lead us to suppose that the era of separation had been proportionally remote, if Llhuyd's observation, respecting the Brigantian dialect, did not oppose this mode of reasoning with regard to the Irish. — O'Brien, who includes the Iriih, supposed ' that the difference of their dialects is nearly in a direct ratio of the length of time elapsed since their separation, and, consequently, their affinity- must always be in an inverse ratio of that same space of time ! * PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 185 their seclusion from the Belgoe of Britain, that the Cehic dialect of the Picts continued purer than that of the South Britons. Although a change is effected in every language in the course of ages, still, if we take into consideration the probable time of the separation of Gallic tribes, we may conclude that in the first century the ancient Gallic, British, Pictish and Irish were dialects intelligible to each of these people. This inference may be deduced from various facts. The design of Julius Caesar to invade Britain was communicated by Gallic traders to the Britons. Gallic youth were instructed, through the medium of the British language, by the Druids. Their religion, manners and customs were the same. The similitude of language is confirmed by Tacitus, who uniformly calls the Picts, Britons, as other early writers do. A constant intercourse was kept up with the Picts by the Irish, by whom the former were instructed in the christian religion.""^ Ireland is called by early foreign ^ Ecdea. Hist, gcntis Anglor. ven. BeJe, Lib. 5. A, D. 5fi.', Columba presbyter, de Scottia venit Britanniam ad docendos Pictos, ct ia insula Hii (Aoi) mona»terium fecit. And St. Adamnan al«) preachftd there in the «cvcnth century. a 186 INQUIRY INTO THE Avriters, an 'island of Britain, and its inlial)itants Britons. We arc inrornicd, in the lite ol' St. Patrick, that an Irish youth, who was instructed in the elements of literature only, was sent to Gaul for the benefit of education. The British clergy, even so late as the fifth century, preached among the Irish ; and some Irish pastors in Gaul. St. Cyprian and St. Augustine preached in Latin to the Roman colonists in Africa, among whom that language was corrupted. And as St. Augustine acknowledges that he used words * that were no Latine to the end they might understand him,'''' it may be inferred that the Roman British and Gallic missionaries in Ireland delivered their discourses in the Gallic or British language, but used Roman ecclesiastical words, Avhich have descended to us, because they could not be expressed in the Celtic. The primitive inhabitants of Ireland and of Caledonia, having been Celts ignorant of letters, we may presume, as I have already insinuated, that of all the Celtic dialects, theirs continued to be the freest from cor- ruption, until the first or second century. 388 Inquiry touching the diversity of languages, by E. Brcrewood, page 29. TRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 187 The pauciU^ of general terms, of tenses, of words and their barbarous collocation in the Irish dialect of the Celtic, are proofs of the antiquity of the language. If from the vocabulary, we were to abstract those words of Belgic and Roman derivation, the remain- ing ones would be scarcely sufficient to express the most common ideas of simple and rude nations. Owing to the poverty of the Celtic language, many words, as in the Hebrew, must necessarily convey several, and often opposite, meanings ; consequently, the interpretation of many of the ancient Irish names of our mountains and low lands must, from this ambiguity, be, at best, conjectural. This primitive language, considered as distinct from and uncorrupted by the Gothic, has been Ions: since lost in the east, where it originated : in this west and distant isle, however, notwithstanding the introduction of other languages, many words of the original Celtic seem to be still preserved ; a circumstance owing, among other causes, to it having always been more an oral than a written tongue. The opinion which St» Adamnan entertained of the Irish dialect, 188 INQUIRY INTO THE about the close of the seventh centur}^, is given in his Hfe of St. Colomba. In this he admonishes the readers of a work, written by St. Colomba, to attend to the subject, not to the language, which appeared to him both low and unpolished ; and not on account of some words in that tongue, which, he says, is in truth a vile language, to despise the pronunciation of the useful names of acts effected by divine aid."^ M. Pezron has made out a long list of Armorican words, and Doctor O'Brien's dictionary contains many Irish ones, from which, they say, that similar words in the Greek and Latin are derived ; but many of those words being found only in some of those dialects of the Celtic, and not in the rest, it follows, that those dialects in which they are found, had received them from the Greeks and Latins. The few syllables in Irish words are no proof of foreign derivatives from them, as some persons affirm ; for the Irish "9 Vet. Epit. Hib. Sylloge, Jacob. Usser. Epig. i4. — Et res magis quiin verba pcrpendant, quae, ut jestimo, inculta ct villa esse videntur. Et ncc ob aliqua ScotUa, vilis videlicet lingus, aut humana onomata, aut gentium obscura locorumvc vocabula — — utilium, ct non sine divinS opitulaiionc gestarum, detpiciant rerutn pronunciationcm. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 189 names of the months, week days, numerals and of the rehgious words, which are manifestly derived from the Latin, are abbreviated in conformity with the original character of the Irish language. Had those learned authors stated that the Greek and Latin languages owe much to the Gothic, their assertion w^ould probably be well founded. If the language of Wales were Cimbric, as Mr.Pinkerton asserts, it would consequently be Gothic,""^ which is not the fact. The Cornish and Armoric, which Gir. Cam. says were in the twelfth century intelligible to each of those people, and to the Welsh, would be also Gothic. And the Cimbri, or similar Gothic tribes, must either have been the primitive inhabitants of Britain,"*' or have '"^ Julius Cxsar, Lib, 1 , Sec. 40, $peaking of the Germans, considers the Cimbri as such. And, lib. 2, sec. 29, speaking of the Atuatici, a Bclgic tribe, says, they were descended from the Teutones and Cimbri, who, en their march to Italy, left the ancestors of the Atuatici on the Gallic side of the Rhine to protect their baggage. • Ipsi crant ex Cimbris Teutonlsque prognati : qui, quum iter in provinciam nostram atque Italiam facerent, his impcdimentis, qux secum agerc ac portare non poterant, citra flumen Rhenum depositis, custodias ac pracsidio VI millia hominum una reliqucrunt.* Eutropius, Lib. 5, I, also calls the Cimbri Germans. *!" Accordingly, some late authors venture to affirm that the first inhabit- ants of Britain were Kimmcrlans, whom they denominate Cimbri, «nd tonfound with the Ccltx. It is, however, doubtfal that the Kimmerian* 190 INQUIRY INTO THE obtained possession of tlie greater part of this island before the invasion of the Romans. However, the same regard for truth, which induced me, in the Essay on the Mixture of Fable and Tact, to differ with Mr. Pinkerton on this subject, demands this avowal, that not only the Welsh, as he asserts, but the were either CimbrI or descendants of them, and ccrtaui that the Cimbri were not Celts, a nation solely and properly Gauls. The assertion relative to the origin of the Britons is not even a plausible conjecture. Caisar and Suetonius assure us that the Gallic language differed from the German which was spoken by the Belga; ; and, according to Tacitus, the former nearly resembled the British language. Consequently, as the Celt.x of Gaul were then a distinct people, the Britons, who used nearly a similar language, could not have been descendants of the Cimbri, who not only were a Gothic people, but used the Gothic dialect. In former parts of this work I have endeavoured to ascertain the origin of the Britons from the most authentic sources of information, which I conceive to he the unanimous and hereditary voice of those nations which had been cotemporary with, and seated nearest on the east to, ancient Gaul and Britain. This information communicated from age to age to the early Saxons of that isle, accounts for tlie compilers of their chronology denomi- nating the Inhabitants of nine of its shires, Weallas, IValen, or Bryt IVealas, and the Britons of Galloway tFales ; names of the same import as Geallas, Galen, Bryt-Gealas, Gales or Gail. And even so late as the sixth century, the present Wales was called by its own Inhabitants WalUa, which signifies Gallia or Gaul. But when the Silures, Dimetae and Ordovices of Wales were attacked by the Saxons on evei y side, Mr. Whitaker informs us that " they threw off their former appellation entirely, and have ever since distinguished themselves by the general appellation of Cymrl." See Mixture of Fable and Fact, p. 3a. This learned antiquary also informs us that the Voluntii of Brigantia, in the sixth century, when they were pressed by the Saxons from the east, changed their name in like manner to that of Cumrt\ Khcncc the present appellation Cumkrlaitu, PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 191 Cornish and Armorican languages contained a greater mixture of Gothic with the Celtic than I then imao-ined.'*^ *>>' [t ha» been the uniform opinion of scholars versed in oriental tongues that some passages in Plaucus and the names of a few numbers arc the only- remains of the Carthaginian language. Yet it is now affirmed it was Celtic. This opinion rests upon the authority of a late writer, General Valiancy, who, by the alteration of the letters and an arbitrary division of the words of three or four corrupted Carthaginian lines in Plautus, has converted them into a sort of Irish, which, I believe, no good Irish scholar could translate. If the General had taken a similar liberty with many lines in the Hebrew or Sclavonic languages, it is probable he would have succeeded equally well. Dean Swift has shown us how to choose Latin words, which sound like English, — ' Is his honor sic ? Prx laet-us fel-is puis, &c,' It does not hence follow that the Latin words convey the English meaning; nor does the forced or casual version into questionable Irish prove it has any affinity with " the Carthaginian. From a passage consisting of ten Punic lines In the fifth act of Poenulus, the General selects the following line : Bythlym mothym noctothii nelechthanti diasmachon. This he alters into Beitli liom ! mo thyme noctaithe niel ach anti daise maccoine. In the London edition of Plautus published by James Tonson, 1711, all the Carthaginian passages are printed in the Hebrew or Syriac characters as well as in the Roman. The above line, corrected by Sam. Bochart, a learned oriental linguist, thus appears : Bytlym moth ynot othi helech Antidamarchon. The first scene of the fifth act opens with a Punic speech consisting of the ten lines above alluded to, and delivered by Hanno the Carthaginian. It is followed by six lines, of which the first is nearly the same as the first of the preceding ten, and these Bochart supposed to be Lybian, a Punic dialect. Ten Latin lines succeed these, and the scene closes. As they are likewise delivered by Hanno and invoke the Deities of Rome to enable him to find his stolen daughters and nephew, I believe they contain the import of the ten Punic, Otherwise it would be silly to introduce a principal character upon the stage delivering a speech upon a different subject, to an audience ignorant of the Cartluginlan language 192 INQUIRY INTO THE LETTERS. The vanit}^ of Irish writers lias induced them to affirm, that the letters of their present alphabet, \yhich are probably not older than the ninth or tenth century, were used by the bards more than one thousand years before the christian aera ; that they are of Phenician In the third scene the General gives us two lines of which the first, he says, is Carthaginian and Irish, without the change of a word or letter. Handone silli hanum bene, tilli in mustine. Whenever she (Venus) grants a favor, she grants it linked with misfortune!. The other Carthaginian line, Meipsi & en este dum & a lamna cestin xxrcxi he alters into Meisi & an eiste dam & alaim na cestin um. Hear me and judge, and do not too hastily question mc. In the edition above alluded to, and now in my possession, the uncorrected run thus : Puer, the Aay:— Handones illi havon bene si illi in mustine. Ciddineme, the nune: — Me ipsi & eneste dum & alamna cestlnum. These sentences are thus altered and corrected by Sam. Petltus : The boy : — Hau colni, suli. The nurst ;— Hau on beni, tuli, umastini. Me r ipsi Si enes 8i dum & almana csati nini. According to this division of the first sentence, three words only are spoken by the boy : the remainder by the nurse. Further, the supposed meaning of the latter line is inappropriate ; for the boy, according to the translation of the former, does not appeal to the nurse, nor ask any question. If one whole corrupted sentence be found to be Irish without the alteration of a letter, and the other two lines so like the Irish, as the General asserts, it is very extraordinary thit, in place of culling out but a few sentences, the General had not proved the remainder of the corrupted or corrected Cartha- ginian sentences in Plautus to be Irish also. The Punic language is supposed to have at first been Phenician, allied to the Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Syriac. In proportion ai it differs from the Irish so do the letters. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 193 origin, and were brought by the Milesians from Egypt to Spain.""' But, waving the fact that Phenician letters were originally but thirteen in number, the dissimilitude be- tween the Irish and the Phenician, or their derivatives, the ancient Hebrew, the Chaldaic, the Punic, the Pelasgian, or any of the sub-derivatives of these, is so striking, as to excite our wonder, that anj^ writer, but a Milesian bard, could claim any of these as prototypes, except through the intervention of Roman letters. As to the Coptic, or Egyptian alphabet, which is like the ancient Greek, and immediately derived from it, it contains eighteen letters, among which I find three, H, K and Q, not used by the Irish. The Gothic dominion anions; the Celtae of Ireland, should rather induce the Irish historian to look to Gothic regions for our elements of literature, or, according to the scope of Irish history, to Spain, where the Celtic language was spoken by its primitive inhabitants, and where the Bastulan, or "^^ Hist, d'lrland, par I'Abbe Ma Gcogh. Tom. 1, p. 3''. Quant i ccmc qui pcnscnt que Ics Milcsicns avoiciit rccu leurs caractcrcs immedintement dci Pheniciens, Icur sentiment paroit plus vraiscmblable, 3i cause du commerce que cc! pcuples curent ensemble ; soit en Espagnc soil en Irlande. b ig4t INQUIRY INTO THE Spanish Phenician, and the Ionic Greek cha- racters were early used. But, unfortunately for the fiction of bards, the ancient Gothic*** were immediately derived from the Ionic Greek, as well as the ancient Spanish, which were twenty-four in number ; and the Bastulan alphabet, which has the letters Q and K beside the C, is too immediately allied to the Phenician"*^ to have any resemblance to the Irish characters, except through their Roman prototypes ; of which the Irish are manifestly a barbarized variety. The Gothic and Phenician languages too differed from each other, and from the Celtic, as much as the Sclavonic differed from either. As the source of Irish literature cannot be discoverable in romance, it must be sought for through facts and inferences. The children of the British nobility were, according to Tacitus, instructed in the Roman learning, under the patronage of Agricola, in the first century.*^ The letters first used by them *^ This alphabet, which is supposed to have been used in the fourth century, contains the following letters, which were not used by the Irish : h, k, q, w, z. ^ Astle on the Origin and Progress of Writing, Plate I. ^*^ C. C.Tac. Agric. Sec. 21. Jam vero principum filios liberalibu* artibw erudire, et ingenia Britannorum itudiis Gallorum anteferre. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 195 must consequently have been the Itahc.*" These were barbarized in Britain, about the sixth century by the British Romans, the Roman Britons and foreisjn auxiharies. Similar letters were used in France, from the seventh to the tenth century, where some Irish persons had at an early period received instruction."^ And, as some of the British clergy came over to Ireland in the supposed time of St. Patrick,'* it is probable that those barbarized letters were introduced either by the former or the latter into Ireland. "^ Astle, Origin of Writing, page 96. ^ Nouvean traite de Diplomatique, page 371, The earliest copy extant of those letters called Gailic hy some, and Saxon by others, is exhibited in the missal of St Colomba. They are of the seventh century, and were then used in France as well as in Ireland. Rcr. Hib. vet. C O'Conor, Tom, I, page 129. *05 France was also frequented by the Irish, as we find by the authors cited by Usher; Antiq. of Ireland, page 164. — Jocelin's life of St. Patrick, p. I'22. * A boy named Olcan, by St. Patrick, having been instructed in letters, went into Gaul, where, after a long stay, he acquired much learning. On his return to Ireland he instituted schools and taught many scholars, who in after times were holy bishops.' And, page 144, ' The bishop St. Mel, together with Munius and Riochus, came from Britannia into Hibernia and assisted St. Patrick in preaching.' And again, page 183, • soon shall a senrant of the Lord arrire from Britain, named Moccheus, who, for the sake of God, deMrting his country and his parents, shall come into Hibernia.* Hist. Monast. du Royaume d'Irlande, page 78. * A Mayo, autrement Mageo — il y a cu un cclebre abbaye fondee en 655, par S. Colman, — ou il amena bon nombre dc moines Anglois ct Irlandoi*. 196 INQUIRY INTO THE On the other haiul, tlie Saxons were unacqaainted with letters, A. D. 452 :'°° they were idolaters when St. Augustine arrived, A. D. 596, and writing, according to Astle, was little practised there until after that period, when Hickes says the Saxon letters then used differed from those of his time.""' Many of the Saxon youth were sent to Ireland in the seventh century to be edu- cated."^ But two centuries previous, we had learned men in Ireland. Saint Ibar in the fifth century, according to Usher, founded a monastery in Beg Eire, a small island near the Wexford coast, in which the Irish were instructed in sacred literature and in the sciences. Hanmer, Usher and Stillingfleet affirm, that Saint Brendan, Avho died A. D. 577,^^ publicly read lectures on the liberal sciences'"* in Ros Ailithri, now Ross Carbury,""' 3°° Origin of Writing, page 9P. j<^» Instit. Gram. Anglo-Sax. &.c. s^ Life of Sulgenus and Bede, lib. 3. chap. 3. 3°3 Nicolson's Irish Hist. Libr. 3°* Antiq. of Ireland, page 163, &c. These, according to Mr. Ledwich> were grammar, rhetoric, logic,, arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy. Martianus Capella was an author of the fifth century. His book comprized those sciences, and was used in the French monasteries in the sixth century, and was probably taught as a classic in Ireland, as Duncant, an Irish bishop, delivered lectures on it in the monastery of St. Remigius in Down, 3°i St. Fachnan, according to Alcmand's Hist. Mon. d'IrL p. 55 and p. 360, founded an abbey and college here in the sixth century. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. ' 197 and Bede says, there were some learned men in Ireland in the seventh century, when the Saxon kings of Northumberland, Oswald and and his brother Oswi were educated there. We may conclude from those facts, that as the first instruction could not be communi- cated by scholars to their masters, the Irish could not have received the first letters from the Saxons, who were ignorant of every alphabet before the end of the fifdi or the beginning of the sixth century. On the contrary, the Saxons as pupils must have received those called after themselves either from Irish or British instructors. The omission of K, Q, V, X, in the Roman and Irish alphabets ; the remaining letters of the latter corresponding with that of the former in number and identity; the primitive power of those letters being similar in both ; the circumstance of F being used by the Latins and Irish in place of V, which was introduced into the Roman alphabet about the middle of the first century, prove that the Irish letters are of Roman origin, and that the Irish must have learned them soon after the British were first instructed ; and, as the Romans were never in Ireland, 198 INQUIRE INTO THE rereived them through tlie medium of Gallic or Roman British missionaries.^ The Damni or Tuatha De Dandnn, as I have observed before, probably brought letters with them when they formed a second settlement here; but it does not appear that the knowledge of them had extended beyond the limits of their territory in the north of Ireland, or that those letters were much used among themselves. A vagrant life of rapine, of indolence and of poverty, the barbarity of the early and middle ages, and the continued change of place inBuailidhe, are repugnant to the idea of a Uterary education having been in those days general in Ireland. And, from the en- couragement which idle bards and seanachies or story tellers, had met with, it may be inferred that Irish chieftains either disdained learning, or were too indolent to acquire it. And, indeed, the acquisition must then have been attended with considerable pains, for, until the eighth century, capitals were chiefly used, contractions were common, and the words were written not only without stops, but without separation. i^ Mixture of Fable and Fact, p. (58. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 199 As the Irish clergy usually wrote in Latin, and as the orthography of the Irish language seems not to have been much attended to, probably, before the tenth century, I am induced to believe that no literary work of merit had been ever written in the latter tongue. And, on considering the epoch of christian instruction in Ireland, and making a due allowance for the time which a barbarous people would require for education, it is not likely that this island produced any learned men before the fifth century. Further, on account of invasions by the pagan Danes, who not only interrupted the course of learning in Britain, as well as in Ireland, but destroyed many of our libraries, it may be inferred that from the eighth until the twelfth, our literary characters were few in number. ^°' The opinion of a learned foreigner of the ninth century on the state of Irish literature may be deduced from his letter, dated March 23"* A. D. 875, to Charles the Bald, in which he ascribes to Divine Grace, the Latin transla- tion of the works of St. Denis, by Johannes Erigena or Scotus, for, without the special ^ Mixture of Fable and Fact, p, «9. 200 INQUIRY INTO THE aid of the spirit of God, he says, such a production could not be completed by a Scottish barbarian from the extreme end of the world. ^^ I have insinuated that the earliest literary works of Irish authors are not so old as the a^ra of the introduction of Christianity in Ireland; and this opinion receives additional support from the bardic ignorance of the state of Ireland in the second century, for they blended the Belgic and Celtic tribes ^°^ Anastatius, a Roman alibot and librarian of the Roman church. — However, this writer may have been as ignorant of the state of Ireland as he is by some supposed to have been of John's country. — The only John, of whom Asser speaks, was a Saxon, whom JEUrcd raised to the dignity of abbot in the monastery of Etheling (^thelingaeg) ; Asser. de ^Ifr. rebus gest. p. 18. priniitus Johannem presbjterum monachum, scilicet Eald- Saxonum genere abbatem constituit. And the character for learning which he gives him, agrees exactly with that which the annals of the monastery of Winchester apply to Johannes Erigena, who, according to those, read lectures on geometry and astronomy in Oxfor(^. Archbishop Usher informs us that Johannes Erigena was a Saxon and a celebrated member of St. David's monastery, and was called a Scot, because he had been in Ireland. Antiq. Britan. p. 74. Ea aetate (circa A. D. 872), Johannes Erigena, natione Ealde- saxo (dictus Scotus, quSid in Hybernia versaretur) in monasterio, S. Davidis Mcnevias claruit. But, the annals of the monastery of Winchester discrimi- nate the member of St. David's from Johannes Erigena, and state that both at the same time gave lectures in Oxford ; the former on logic, muoic, and arithmetic. The seeming impracticability of procuring masters qualified to instruct the great ^Elfrcd in reading and writing, before he had attained the age of manhood, tends to evince that Ireland produced few literary men in the ninth century. See Asser de JElir, reb. gest. page 5. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 201 into one family. They brought the Brigantes, a British tribe, under the name of Milesians, from Scjthia to Egypt; thence to Crete; from Crete to Scythia ; from Scythia to Gothia; from Gothia to Spain; from Spain to Sc3'thia; from Scj'thia again to Egypt; from Egypt to Thrace ; from Thrace to Gothia; from Gothia to Spain, and from Spain to Eirin.^° And they assigned them as companions, as countrymen and as near relatives in their voyages, the Eibhearni of Ptolemy, the chief of the Belgic tribes, beside some subordinate ones of this family. And, as if their narrative required further evidence of ignorance, several of those bards affirm that Heremon, the supposed chief of the Brigantes, possessed the north half of Ireland,^'" when, according to Ptolemy's map, it appears that in the second century, the Brigantes occupied the counties Kilkenny and Carlow only, and several other co-existent tribes, distinct situations. ^^ Keating's History of Ireland, p. 23 1 and 253. 3'° The Book of Invasions, the Psalter of Cashel, the Works of Giolla Coamhain and of Torna Eigis assert that, the provinces of Conacht and UUtcr were the property of Heremon : other Irijh authors fix hini in Munstcr. iOi INQUIRY INTO THE NUMERALS. The Irish numerals are, according to Mr, Astle, exactly like those of the Spaniards and the Indian or Arabian copy of John de Sacrobosco, an English arithmetician of the thirteenth century. The Irish alphabetic numerals are like those, which the Romans borrowed from the Greeks. As the Indian figures were not brought into Europe before the middle of the tenth century, the Irish and Spaniards could have had no knowledge of them before that time, when the Saracens or European travellers introduced them from the east; and, accordingly, the alphabetic numerals in which the Irish were probably instructed by the Roman British clergy, are found in their most ancient writings, and even in those of the thirteenth century. The Irish names of numbers, from one to a hun- dred, are, with few exceptions, manifestly derived from the Latin."" •• In page 7f , Mixture of Fable and Fact, a lut of the numerical name* IB all the rarletie* of the Celtic ii given, and collated with the Latin. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. UOS CHRONOLOGY. Camden says, that in comparison of the antiquity of Irish history, that of other nations is in its infancy ; but the Spaniards, Welsh and other people also endeavoured to trace their histories to the patriarchal ages/' Much learning but little judgment have in late ages been expended upon the subject of Irish chronolog3^ It however, requires no great depth of penetration to be assured of its want of authenticity. ■ The data for the computation of time were various among the Irish ; but the epoch of the Incarnation was never used here before the eighth, nor was it general before the eleventh century. O'Halloran, a Philo- Milesian, informs us, that it was customary with the Seanachies to reckon a new eera ' from all uncommonly remarkable events.'™ In consequence, some historiographers commence their history from the building of Eahhan Macha, a real or fictitious metropolis ^^ In the 9th century, Asser, though a man of learning, attempted to trace the genealogy from Adam down to JEliied the great Anglo-Saxoa King. Johan. Asicrus dc iElfr. reb. gest. p. i. « O'Halloran's Introd. to the Study of the History and Antiquitie* of Irelaod, p. J 7. 204 INQUIRY INTO THE of the Ukonians or Voluntii, which, they say, was founded 306 years before Christ ; a date which preceded the arrival of that tribe about three and a half centuries. Other Seanachies, probably in compliment to their chieftains, computed more recent transac- tions from an annual supper, which, they say, was first given A. D. 455 by Laoghaire ; or, from the year 478, in commemoration of a remarkable battle, which, it is said, had been fought between a son of this Laoghaire and Oiliol. Others, actuated by a silly vanity, foisted aeras into Irish history, coeval with the patriarchal times.^ These were forged sifter the sixth century when learning began to dawn in our cloisters ; and the forgery was not only considered in the light of true history, but received with a sort of venera- tion by every subsequent Philo- Milesian. Two curious specimens of those fictions are preserved in the Bodleian and Cottonian libraries, of which some are extracted from the annals of Inisfallen, an island in the lake of Killarney (Cill-airne); some from the annals of Buellia in Conacht. 314 See Keating, O'Flaherty, &c. passim. — Tigernach, of the eleventh century, is the only Philo-Milesian writer, except Dr. O'Brien, who doubts the authenticity of all monuments of the Scots, anterior to three hundred years before the Incarnation. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 205 ANNALES INISFALI^, WRITTEN A. D. 1215. Codex Bodl. Rawlinson, No. 50,". FoL. I. COL. III. — Ossa The bones of Joseph were Joseph in Sichem sepulta sunt, buried in Sichem. At this Hoc tempore ro gabhsat Fir time the Belgse obtained pos- Bolg Er. session of Erin. FoL. I. COL. IV. — Natus Moses is born. At this time est Moyses. Hoc tempore ro the Tuatha De Danan took gabhsat Tuatha Den for Er, possession of Ireland. Moses Moyses sepultus est in Moab. was buried in Moab. The sons Meic Mileadh do gabhail Erenn. of Milesius possess Erin. FoL. IV. — Finit quarta jetas The fourth age of the world mundi. has terminated.* ♦ This is supposed to iudude the time from David to the building of Babylon; or, according to others, the time from the departure of Moses from Egypt until the building of Solomon's temple. ANNALES BUELLI^, WRITTEN A. D. 1253. Codex Cot. Tit A. a5. FoL. II. — Anno LX. aetatis Abraham, tenuit Partholanus, mac Seru, macEsru,Hiberniam, qui primus regnavit ibidem. FoL. III. — -Tempore Moysis acceperunt Tutha Dedannand fortitudinem et potestatem for Feraib-Bolcc. kl. kl. kl. kl. M<= Miled in Hiberniam hoc tempore venerunt. In the 60th year of Abraham's 3ge,Partholan, or Bartholemew, son of Seru, the son of Esru, seized Ireland and was the first who reigned there. In the time of Moses the Tuatha De Danan overcame the Belgffi. At this time (denoted by those marks kl. repeated, which I do not understand) the sons of Milesius arrived in Ireland.^'^ 3>5 Rer. Hib. scrip, vet Car. O'Conor, page 40. 206 INQUIRY INTO THE As literature had made no progress in Ireland before the introduction of Christianity, it is evident, that no remote event in Irish history could be dated from the patriarchal or christian jieras, which were not known to those bards or historians before the fourth century ; neither could it be founded upon tradition, as oral information cannot be depended upon, after the lapse of a century. If 3.ny accuracy could be expected in Irish chronology, it would be first sought for in the monkish account of the time in which our abbeys, priories and convents were built; but even this account was found by the writers of Irish monastic history so devoid of exactness, that Alemand, to whom later authors on this subject are greatly indebted, says, * of all chronologies, the Irish is perhaps one of the most confused ; mais la chronologic d'Irlande est peut-estre une des plus broiiillees qu'il y ait/^'" And it may be also affirmed, that, although our seanachies were, probably, at an early period subsequent to the introduction of the christian religion, acquainted with the subdivision of time into weeks, months and years, they had previously no knowledge of ^ Hiit. Mon, du royaumc d'lrlande^ page 38. PniMITIVE INHABITANTS. 207 the year of the world, nor any common fixed epoch to guide them in historical research. That the ancient Gallic and British Druids had made some progress in those studies in which they were instructed by the Phoceans of Marseilles, I have no doubt; but I believe their literary attainments were interrupted in Britain by the Roman arms in the first century, and annihilated in Ireland before the fifth, by incessant rapine and general tumult. TRADE. DiODORUs says the British islands in his time were the least known /'^ And Julius Caesar in the same age informs us that Britain was little known even to the Gauls, who traded thither.'" The earliest account of 3" Lib. 2, Cap. 1 20. Insulx Britannics et loca arctis subjecta, omnium minime in comniunem hominum notitiam pervencre. ^ Czs. dc beL Gal. lib. 4, sec. 20. Genus hominum — loca, portui, »dltu8 — quae omnia fere Gallis erant incognita. Neque enim tcmcri, prxter mercatores, iWb adit quisquam ; neque iis ipsis quidquam praeter oran* maritimam, atquc cai rcgionc» qua sunt contra Galliam, notum est, &c. 208 INQUIRY INTO THE foreign trade with it is given by Dionysius Periegesis, who, A. D. 3, states that tlie Greeks preferred the British islands to all others.''' And Strabo, A. D. 20, is the first who speaks of the Roman intercourse with Britain.'*"* Consequently Pliny errs in assert- ing that Britain, which, A. D. 77? when he wrote, was celebrated in the Grecian and Roman Annals, was not known to his coun- trymen above thirty years before.'*' In consequence of a treaty which Augustus Caesar had entered into with Britain, the people of this island not only sent presents to the capitol, but submitted to a toll, which was levied upon their imports from, or their exports to, Gaul. The articles received from Rome were bridles studded with ivory, gold chains, glass vessels, British amber manu- factured and other trinkets. Their exports consisted of corn, cattle, gold, silver, iron, skins, slaves and war dogs.'" The information communicated by native writers with regard to the Irish trade is so 3's v. 568, Britannicas insula* coeteres totius orbis Grsci pratuUrc ^'° Ocogr. cum notis Casau. page 305 3" Lib. 4, Chap. 16. •^* Strab. Geog. page 305, PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 209 scanty, that authors, zealous for the ancient ideal splendour of Ireland, have been at considerable pains in consulting foreign works upon the subject. Avienus, an author of the fourth century, is quoted as authority for a Carthaginian traffic with this isle ; but ad- mitting that, by the appellation GEsrumnides, or CEstrumnides, the British islands were meant, the quotation is too vague and ambiguous to assure us of a Carthaginian commerce with Ireland; for, exclusive of the facts that, the ancients were ignorant of navigation and that the voyage across the Irish sea was, even in the days of Solinus, Giraldus Cambrensis, Camden and Speed, considered perilous, Ireland docs not contain tin, with which the GEsrumnides were by Avienus said to abound/*" If a regular Carthaginian, Grecian or Roman trade had been conducted with Ireland in the times of Diodorus and Strabo, who were the best ancient Geographers, we would expect a more circumstantial account of this island than, it appears, their travels and inquiry enabled them to give us. On the other hand, the notice taken of this isle by Diodorus, 3»3 Dicit enim has plumbi et stanni divitcs, Thcat. Geo, vet, cdciite P. B. Bcvero. d 210 INQUIRY INTO THE evinces tliat some trading adventurers had visited it before the Incarnation. Tacitus is the first authentic writer, who, at the close of the first century, says the har- bours of Ireland were better known through commerce than those of Britain f* but he also informs us that Britain before his time was not known to be an island even to the Romans ; nor were the Orkneys previously discovered. *^^ The Greeks having at a remote period formed a settlement in Marseilles ; and the Romans having been in the time of Julius Caesar established in Narbonne, these colonists, it is probable, were the first foreigners next to the Gauls, who traded with the south of Britain and, perhaps, with the Armorican settlers in Ireland. And these Armorican Gauls, having trafficked with the Belg^ of the south of Britain before the Christian eera, would be naturally anxious to commence a commercial intercourse with them from their new settlement in Ireland. With this view, probably, the latter con- structed the Sarn Gailach or Irish Causeway 3*+ Agric. S. ^i. Melius aditus portusque per coniraercia et negotlatorcs cogniti. 3^5 s. 10. Hanc oram novlssimi maris tunc primitm Romaiia classis circumvecta, insulam esse Britanniam adfirmavit, ac simul incognitas ad id tempua insulas, quas Orcadas vocant, iaveriit domuitque. PRDIITIVE INHABITANTS. 2ll ill a direction opposite to the Aisgear Riada or the Galhc road,"^ which I have ah'eady described. Ireland having in those ancient days been embarrassed with woods without roads, boss without hurdles, and rivers without bridges/'' this tranverse causeway became necessary not only to convey the products of the isle from the west and other parts of Ireland to Dublin ; but to facilitate the payment in kind to those Rhedones at Magh Cceitne,^* the present barony of Cool and Tullagh. And it is not improbable that the Belgee of the south -west of Ireland, as a commercial people, had afterward availed themselves of it to convey their articles of trade to Dublin. In conformity with this opinion the bards assert that the trade of Ireland, before the arrival of the Danes, was managed solely by them, the other tribes having disdained commerce. ' O'Halloran's Introduction/ vol. 2, p. 237. Certain duties were paid in later ages on the first of May and November in wines and ^ The bards inform us Uiat Ais^car Riada was used as a boundary in the second century between a northern and southern King of Ircbnd; and, according to Ncnnius, Sam Gailach constituted another, A. D, 465, between two British Kings and one of Arnioiica- j»7 Gir. Camb. Spencer, &c. ^ Kcatin,",'» History, page Iff. 212 INQUIRY INTO THE merchandize to the monarch and provincial kings. The articles of trade were probably as in Britain, wool, skins, ores, slaves and hunting dogs, and the imports were brazen arms, cloathes, wine, gold and silver ornaments. We may infer from the character of the Irish, as it is depicted by Diodorus, Strabo, Mela, Solinus, Eumenes, Prosper and Gildas, from their erratic mode of life, the frequency of war, their ignorance of the arts and sciences, of agriculture and its implements, the want of money and the smallness of their boats, which were called uarceas, curach or curachan, that their trade had never been considerable, nor of long duration. MARRIAGE. I EXTRACT from Doctor O'Brien's Irish Dictionary the following account of Irish wed- lock, which, like several other customs that prevailed in Ireland, was of Gothic origin. ' Po'sadh, corrupted from Bosadh, the only word in the Irish language to signify marriage or wedlock/ PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 213 'This word is borrowed from a material ceremony which accompanied the marriage of the ancient Irish, as well as that of the Germans, as we are informed by Tacitus de moribus Germanormn, c. 18. This ceremony consisted in the actual exhibition of the dowry, or marriage portion, at the time of the conjugal contract :"* and as this dowry, among the Germans as well as the old Irish, consisted of nothing else but cattle,^ and more especially cows, boves 4^ frxnatum equiim, as Tacitus says of German marriage portions ; it is from thence that the ancient Irish call the conjugal contract by the appellative of Bo'sadh or Bo'sudh, which literally means to be endowed or portioned with cows, from the Irish word bo' — a cow. It is to be noted, that the daughters, among the old Irish, never shared with the sons in the patrimonial estate in lands, which were equally divided between the male offspring, as amongst the old Germans ;''' wherefore. 3» Among the lower order of farmers this custom is still preserved in Ireland; but in consequence of money being in use, certain sums are pro- duced in lieu of, or in addition to, their stock. ^1° The Irish name of marriage is a corroborative evidence that our trade was formerly managed solely by the commutation of wares. JJ' Tcutonicis priscis patrios successit ia agros niascula stirps omnis, nc potent ulla forct. 214> INQUIRY INTO THE such daughters as were portioned at iheir marriage had generally no other fortune but cattle, and the Irish language has no other word to signify a woman's marriage portion but spre or shrt, which literally means cattle. The men of quality amongst the old Irish never required a marriage portion with their wives, but rather settled such a dowry upon them as was a sufficient maintenance for life, in case of widowhood ; and this was equally the custom of the German nobles, and, particularly, of the Franks/ GAMING. Among other customs which identify aGothic settlement in Ireland, that of gambling holds a conspicuous place, insomuch that Campion's account of that vice m Ireland, is nearly a counterpart of that which Tacitus gives us in his history of Germany. The habit of indolence, in which they indulged during peace, produced a listless- ness of inaction, which gaming seemed best adapted to relieve. Like the savage of America, who in the morning would barter PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 215 his bed without considering that it could not be spared at night, those Goths of Germany and Ireland, when engaged at their favourite game, seemed to have no thought of future wants. And as man in a state of nature is generally accustomed to liberty in excess, the transition from mild to violent passions is frequent and rapid. Hence the close accordance of Campion's description of Irish gambling with that of Tacitus ; and hence the unchanged continuance of this custom in Ireland to the time of that author. Even when sober, the Germans, according to Tacitus, game so desperately that when nothing else is left for hazard but their liberty, this is proffered as the last stake. The sense of honour is such, that the loser, although younger and stouter, voluntarily becomes a slave, and suffers himself to be bound and sold.^" In Ireland, even toward the conclusion of the sixteenth century, Campion informs us, that ' there is amono; them a brotherhood •^ C. C. Tac. dc Germ. Sec. '2i. Aleam, quod nilrcrc, sobrii inter seria exercent, tanta lucrandi perdcndivc tcmcritatc, ut quum omnia defecerunt, extreme ac novissimo jactu de lihcrtate et de corpoie contendanC. Victus voluntariam servitutcm adit : quanivis junior, quanivis rolmstior, adligari »c ac venire patitur : ea est in re prava pcrvicacia ; ipsi fidcm votant. 216 INQUIRY INTO THE of Carrowes — Cearrhhach,^^^ that profess to play at cards all the yeare long, and make it their only occupation. They play away mantle and all to the bare skinne, and then trusse themselves in strawe or in leaves : they waite for passengers in the highway, invite them to a game upon the greene, and aske no more but companions to hold them sport, for in default of other stuff they pawne portions of their glibbes, the nailes of their fingers and toes, quinetiam membra virilia, which they lose or redeem at the curtesie of the winner/ ^^ FOOD. From a want of direct testimony, the asser- tions of foreign audiors upon this subject, are supported by analogy only. The first inhabitants of Ireland, who are noticed by writers, were British Gauls. They were so denominated by Diodorus Siculus,^^^ an •5*5 A gamester, spoil ; from cearadb, to destroy or spoil. *^ History of Ireland, page 27, — In 1698 an act was passed against deceitful, disorderly and excessive gaming. ^S Lib. 5. Ferocissimos esse Gallorum^ qui sub septentrionlbu* habitirt— PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 217 author, whose assertion is deserving of serious regard, on account of liis celebrity as a writer and of the age in which he wrote. These emigrated from Britain to Ireland, according to Richard and Whitaker, near three centuries anterior to the settlement of the Arraorican tribes in Ireland, and near four previous to that of the Belgae."' As the arts in Britain, when Julius Caesar visited that island, had scarcely surpassed the simple invention of savages,^" we may infer from analogy, and history supports the inference, that in this island, wdiich is farther distant from foreign commerce, the manners of its inhabitants must have been then more uncivilized than the British, which were ruder than the Gallic.^^^ The foreign com- mercial visits to Ireland, which we learn from Tacitus, therefore, probably commenced, at least the greater part, after the settlement of the Armoricans and of the Belga3 in this island ;3^' for the prior Gallic Britons, who 330 Richard, A. M 3650. Whitaker's Manchester, v. — , page aj*. w Cx3. de bel. Gal. Sec. 10. — C. C. Tac. Agric. Sec. II. M8 Strab. Geogr. V. i, p. 305. Ingcnio Gallorum partim similes sunt, partim simpliciores et niagis barbari. «B DIodor. Sic. lib. 5. Insulx Britannicae ct Iocs arctic »ubject.a, oirfliora. niJnime, in communem hominum iiotitiam pervencre. e 218 inquirtT into thu occupied the island, were probably naked savaoes;^"^ but the Arnioricans^*' and the British Belgee^'** on their arrival were compa- ratively civilized. Tribes wholly ignorant of the sciences and the arts must be supposed to subsist partly by milk, the produce of the chase and that of the woods. Corn was scantily sown even in the twelfth century, and the island, having been almost a continued forest, was ill adapted for the support of cattle or the secre- tion of milk. In consequence, the sources of subsistence among the ancient Irish Avere defective and casual. Hence, probably, in years of famine, necessity might have given rise to reports, which inclined Diodorus^'*^ and Strabo to suspect that they were cannibals. The sohtary instance mentioned by Dr. Keating appears to be doubtful, and the fact »»° Diod. Strab. Mela, Eumenes, &c *♦• C. Julius Cssar, lib. 3. sec. 8. ^** Whitaker's Manchester. 3*3 DIod. Sic. lib. 5. Dicunt ex ila nonnuUos anthropophagos esse, licut Britannos qui Irin tenent. Strab. Geogr. de lerne, -page 307. De hac nihil cert I habeo quod dkam, nisi quid incoix ejus Britannis sunt magis agrcstes, qui et humanis veicuntur carnibus >— » qu^ Ossian ; Crit. Dissert. , 3e« ' Ut canis occultos agitat cum Belgicus apros.' •'^^ J^iy.apx-i(riizv, Pausanias says the Celts called horses warMn. — Among the Germans, from whom this custom originated, the foot were only equal in number to the cavalry. J. C;esar, lib. i, sec. 39. Equitum millia eraiit sex: totidem numero pedites velocissimi ac fortissimi, quos ex omni copiS, singuU singulos, su» salutii causa, delegerant. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 2S5 upon the horseman or knight. Paiisanias continues to inform us, that if this knight should happen to have been slain, one of the two attendants was appointed to succeed him. And O'Brien affirms, that the same custom prevailed in Ireland, where the at- tendants w^ere called Giollaidhe ein eich, and also Dailtimgh ; and these were armed with javehns attached to thongs. The knight or master was called ritte?- or ridder in German ; hence, the English rider, and the Irish imitative appellation ridaire, which was used to express the same office and the same rank. In later times, the denomination cniocht, borrowed from the German knoclit, "which originally signified a common soldier, was used synonimously with ridairt^^ The foot soldier, called Cathern, Cearn or Ceatharnach, was armed with darts, knives, and a Javelin, which the tliono; attached enabled him to draw back, after he discharged it. The Belgai, probably, introduced into Ireland that wedge-shaped or triangular order of battle, which, as Tacitus informs us, was practised by the ancient Germans.** In Irish it was called Gin- ell, a word com- »3 O'Brien 'i Diet, in voce Cniotht. ■''-'♦ TacGcrni. icc. 6. ZSQ INQUIRY INTO THE posed from the form ginii or dinn — a wedge, and ell — a battle. And, according to the original German custom/"* it is probable that the GiollaidJie ein etch intermixed with the horse, and, supported by the mane, kept pace with the riders. In Britain the chariots were thus accompanied, and defended by the infantry. In place of the drum the bag-pipe, a musical instrument used, according to A. Gellius, by the Lacedemonians, probably filled by the breath, as it is now sounded in the Highlands of Scotland, constituted their martial music. On going to battle they used certain barbarous ceremonies in expectation of a consequent victory '/^ and preparatory to the combat, they clashed their swords together, raising a general cry in ejaculation to their favourite idol,^"^ or in honour of their toparch. The idol, usually implored, was Cronh and the motive of their invocation 35* G Julius Caesar, tie bel Gal. sec. 39. Cum his in praliis versabantur. — Si qu& erat longius prodeundum, aut celerius recipiendum tanta crat horum cxercitatione, celeritas, ut jubis equorum sublevati, cursum adxquarcnt. — And Tacit, de Germ. sec. 6. , -^ View of the State of Ireland, p. 95. 337 The Scandinavians performed Eimilar ceremonie*, and on joining in battle invoked Odin. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 237 was victory, adh hiiadha — a victorious issued' Then, inciting eajch other to action, they uttered aloud the watch-word, Faire O ! — Faire 0! — be on your guard ! take heed ! The Gauls, Scots, Caledonians and Welsh, not onl}^ fought naked upon many occasions, but what is still more extraordinary, they engaged enemies with arms in their hands, without any in their own. According to Livy and Polybius, the Gauls fought naked and without arms, at the battle of Cannae. This custom of the Gauls is also spoken of by Diodorus'"* and Herodian.'*°° Giraldus 3S3 For this construction of Crom ad'h Bu'adha, pronounced Crom aive (>oea, 1 am remotely indebted to the present professor of Irish in the seminary of Maynooth. This cry, which implies a strange mixture of devotion and vengeance, is now used in the south of Ireland, with the omission of Crom, and the substitution of the mutable P for B in Bu'adh, to call labourers to meals. And the prevalence of this custom induces me to suppose that victories had been thus anciently announced from the field of battle, to the remotest district interested in the result. Cas. de bel. Gal. lib. 7, sec. 3, informs us, that on the insurrection of the Carnutes, an account of the murder of the Roman citizens at Genabum, was conveyed, by means of out-cries repeated from place to place, to the Averni on the day it occurred, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles. Others say that this cry is not very ancient, it having originated among the inhabitants of an Irish town called Crom : but the town itself might have received its denomination, from the veneration of a sept for this idol, which, probably, was cither Crom-cruach, or Crom-dubh, Thus, the town, called Clogher, is indebted for its name to another idol called Cloch-oir, literally, the stone of gold. An act was passed in 1495, to abolish the words Crom ad'h Bu'adha and Butler ad'h Bu'adha. *» Page 3 5 J. ■»'» Lib. 3. cap. 47. 238 INQUIRY INTO THE Cainb. speaking of the Jrisli, siiys, — * they march naked and unarmed to battle : they esteem arms as a burden, and consider it a proof of boldness and a mark of honour to light without them/ Praeterea uudi et inermes ad bella procedunt. Ilabent enim arma pro onere. Inermes vero dimicare, pro audacia reputant et honore.*°' The Caledonians fought naked in the battle of Mechlin/^ And in their shirts in that of Killicranky/°' Girald. Camb. says of the AVelsh : ' it is remarkable that they, without arms and naked, often fight the armed : the infantry are not afraid to encounter the cavalry ; and in those conflicts they for the most part become victorious, on account of their agility and courage/*°* This account of the Welsh is corroborated by Henry II. in a letter to Emanuel, emperor of Constantinople/"* We may infer from those facts, that after the use of clothes became general among the Celta^, they^ were ♦°' Topogr. Hib. cap. lo. *°^ Fanuan. Stradse de beL Belg. *°^ Crit. Diss, upon Macpherson's Ossian, page 1 64. *°* Cambr. Des. a Gir. Camb. cap. 8. — De his igitur hoc spcctabile, quod nudi multoties cum ferro vcstitis inermes cum armatis, peditcs cum equitibus congredi non verentur, in quo plcrumque confflctu, sola fiunt agilitate ct animositate victores. *°i Camb. Des. cap. 8. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 239 thrown oft' in battle; either from the force of habit, or from an apprehension of their impeding the free use of their hmbs. Their fighting without arms arose from an erroneous conception of bravery; the Celtic idea of valour consisting in a heedless prodigality of life. ]\Iany prisoners were usually made in those hostile engagements, which, from the earliest period of history, were both frequent and numerous. And, perhaps, it may be inferred from the copiousness of the Irish language, with regard to the names expressive of a variety of slaves, that those prisoners were disposed of as such. The custom seems to have been pretty general in the early ages. Strabo informs us, that the Gauls imported slaves and dogs from Britain, ' mancipia et canes.' And Tacitus *°^ tells us, that the Usippian cohort, which, A. D. 83, deserted the standard of Agricola in Caledonia, having been driven on the German coast, were arrested, sold and bought among their own countrymen; and in the line of commerce conveyed back to Britain. In the year 1085 Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and ♦"^ Vita Agric. Sec. 2S. 240 INQUIRY INTO THE Wolstan, bishop of Worcester, prevailed upon king William not to sell the prisoners he made in Ireland ; but we are told their request was not readily complied with, 'in consequence of the great gain the king had by the sale of those Irishmen /'*°' And so late as the year of the Incarnation 1014, parents in England were by law allowed to sell their children. DRESS. From the state of nudity in which history has discovered some of the ancestors of the Irish, as well as the inhabitants themselves, in the third and fifth centuries,*°'' it, may be inferred, that the first settlers in Ireland were a naked people. Of that Gothic family, whence the Belgas of Ireland descended, we read in Tacitus' account of the Germans, that the children of the hidier and lower orders were both naked, filthy, and equally ignorant : they **? Hanmer's Chronicle of Ireland, p. 1 95. ♦"* Eumenes & Gildasi PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 2il lived promiscuously with the cattle, upon the same floor/°' When grown up, many of the latter appeared without clothing;**' but some indulged in the luxury of a short mantle, composed of the hide of some animal. This they called Sack, a word which Varro derives from the Celtic ; but it originally was either a German word or the Sclavonic Saak, a cloak, for the Sarmatians also wore it : the sagum, according to Strabo, was by the Celtic Gauls called lana^" The higher order in Gaul, when of mature age, wore under the sack, an open jacket with sleeves :*'* this was originally formed from a hide and reached to the middle. Their breeches, sagum and jacket were either *°° Sec. 2'^. — In onini domo nudi ac sordidl, in hos artus, in hxc corpora, qua miramur, cxcrcscunt. Dominura ac servum nullis cducationis dehciU djgnoscas. Inter eadem pecora, in cadem humo degunt ; donee stas separet irgeniios, virtus agnoscat. <'" Seneca dc ira, lib. I , sec 1 1 , ct Epis. 36. *" Thia might have been made in imitation of the military Persian cassock, called Candys. Ltann or Lclne was a coarse cassock worn outside the doublet : O'Brien's Diet, in voce. It was afterward called Cara-calla, a word probably signifying a sliort cowl or hood; gar — short, calla — a hood. According to A- Victor, M. A. Antoninus was called Cara-calla, on account of wearinjr at Rome this cassock, which he lengthened ilown to the legs. 4'* DIoi'.orus and Strabo, p. 67, — This, as Porphyry observes of the Gothic dress, was probably ' a light jacket, which fitted close to the breast without girding.* ^ 242 INQUIRY INTO THE stained or patched with the hvely colours of different furs, the idea of which might have been taken from a part}^- coloured woollen dress, ^vhich thePhoceans of Marseilles proba- bly introduced from Persia"^'^ into Gaul. The trowsers, called by Lucan, laxce bracca, or. loose breeches, and breac, or the speckled, by Celtic nations, were shaped like those of our sailors.414 They were worn by the Sarmatians, Persians and Medes, and were, according to that author, adopted from the Sarmatians, by those German tribes called Batavi and Vangiones, who occupied the west side of the Rhine. 41S Though Julius Cassar and Diodorus were cotemporary and acquainted with the dress of Gaul, they differ in their descriptions ; whence I infer that the former alluded to the dress of the lower order ; the latter to that of the higher. Caesar says the only covering of the Belgic Gauls, even in the coldest parts ♦'S Ph. Cluv. Introd. Geogr. p, 337, — Persje sumptuosi ; vestes discolores — supra modum expetunt. Many of the Gallic youth were instructed by those Phoceans. *'•* Strabo, p. 67, Braccis utuntur circum extentis. *'^ M. A. Lucan was a Spaniard and nephew of Seneca. He wrote about the middle of the first century. Et qui te laxis iuiitantur, Sarmata, braccis, Vangioncj BRtaviquc tmcci.— •ii*. 4, /, 430. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 243 of that country, was the Rheuo, or a small leathern mantle, which left the greater part of the body exposed.'^"* Diodorus, on the other hand, asserts that beside a striped and chequered sagum and breeches, which they called hraca, the Gauls wore a jacket which had various colours and looked as if sprinkled with flowers."*'^ The breeches, according to Tacitus, were in Germany worn tight by the higher order."^'^ The Gauls, on account of their vicinity to the Greeks of Marseilles and the Romans of Narbonne, probably became acquainted with dress before the Germans ; but the Gothic priority of claim in Ireland may be traced to some of the Celtic names of garments, which are of Gothic derivation. The Irish faith apparel is the same as the Gothic fat, raiment; and faillin, the Irish cloak or mantle, *"'Lib. 4, Sec. 2, — Atquc in earn se consuetudinem adduxerunt, ut locis frigidissimis neque vestitus, prxter pelles, habeant quidquam; quarum propter exiguitatem, magna est corporis pars aperta. — And Tacit, de Germ. S. 17. — The Rheno, or skin mantle, was probably the Irish ruine or roine, which signifies the hair of a horse, cow, or other beast. -♦'7 Vestitus illis mirificus. Tunicas cnim variis coloribus imbutas, ac ecu floribus conspersas, caligasque, 6racas illis nominatas, gcstant. Saga ctiam virgata, per hyemem densa, par aestatem tenuiora, crebrisque tcssclis florum instar distincta, fibuiis subncctunt. *"» Sec. 17. Locupletib»irai vcste diitinguuntur, ttrictd & sitigulo* artut czprimentc. 244 INQUIRY INTO THK a later name which it acquired in Ireland, in place of the original saak or leine, might have been derived from the Gothic fald or falda, a folding vestment.*'' Asia being considered the mother of the arts and sciences, it may be fairly presumed that, though several centuries elapsed before they were introduced into the savage parts of Europe, we are remotely indebted to that quarter of the world for the source whence they at length proceeded. And as the Gauls before the time of Julius Caesar were in the habit of forming settlerrients in Germany, and the Germans in Gaul, this novel dress must have attracted the notice of German vanity or necessity. The British straits trans- ferred it, perhaps in barter, to Britain ; the North and St. George's channels to Erin. Though the Gallic dress was probably not long introduced into Gaul before the time of Diodorus, it must have been known to the Belsai of Britain before their emisfration to Erin. And, according- to inferences from our bardic accounts, it appears to have been first worn by our Belgic chieftains; and hence probably the fictitious poetic name Simeon is applied to the Belgae, and the epithet 419 Olau3 Varelius in voribus. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 245 hreac, or party-coloured, to their dress. The manufacture however was probably still unknown in Ireland/'^ Hence the almost total state of nakedness with which the Irish are reproached by early writers j'^' and hence the use of skins ibr bed cloathes, and proba- bly for raiment in the supposed time of St. Patrick.'*" The Gallic dress must therefore have been confined to the chieftains, for Gildas, speaking of the third devastation in Britain, which occurred about the year 426 or 431, says, ' the Scots bestowed more attention to the covering of their thievish countenance with glibs than even of the most indecorous parts of their persons with rai- ment.'**^ Herodian confirms the account of *** The hides of animals being better conductors of heat than blankets, the former would not be substituted for woollen bed clothes, if the art of weaving wool were known in Ireland in the sixth, or, perhaps, a later century. Sec Joccline's Life of St Patrick, page 145. «' Eumenius & Gildas. 4** Joceline's Life of St. Patrick, page 145. *" The following passage from Gildas is usually omitted by those who endeavour, at the expense of truth, to exalt the character and genius of the ancient inhabitants of Ireland : ' Itaque illis ad sua rcvcrtentibus, emergunt certatim de curhls, quibus sunt trans Tithicam (Scythicam, Styticam) vallem vecti, quasi in altoTitanc, incalescentcsque caumate, de arctissimis foraminum cavernulis, fuici virmiculorum cunei, .tetri Scotorum Pictorumque gregea, moribus ex parte dis«.identes, & una cadcmquc sanguinis fundcndi aviditate concordes,/«r<'/ and caban vras the summer habitation of the lower orders whilst they tended their herds and flocks. — They consisted of the branches of trees fixed in the ground in a circular or oblong form, tied at the top with withes and covered with leaves and grass.' PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 255 the Roman, as dom, domus, a house ; tw\ turris, a turret ; cuhhacail, cubiculum, a chamber; seamra, a chamber; palds, a palace; caisleon, a castle ; pcaralus, a parlour ; sailear, a cellar, Sac. The mode of erecting houses with stone and the use of lime cement, were first intro- duced into Ireland by the Danes : the Gothic pointed and the round Roman arch were formed by English architects. The other orders of architecture were foreisiu to this island, and are either wholly unknown or novelties to its language. Even the castles raised by the English settlers, or by the Irish in imitation, have no names in the Irish language, except those imitative of English ones, distinct from the usual denominations of their primitive forts. Hence it may be fairly inferred that, edifices of cemented stone were unknown to the ancient settlers here ; and facts evince it. St, Bernard, in his life of archbishop Malachie, informs us that, when the latter had begun to lay the foundation of the oratory of stone, which was built A. D. 1140, at Bangor — Ban choir, the incipient building excited the surprise oi" ^56 INQUIRY INTO THE some natives, because stone edifices were unknown in Ireland: one exclaimed, ' good man, what levity could induce you to erect such a novelty in our countr}^ ! a building so superb, so costly and so superfluous !'*** And though, it is said, a castle was erected A.D. 1104, by Cuillenane at Castle-Lyons, that built of stone by Roderic O'Connor fifty- seven years after, was considered a novel and extraordinar}^ edifice, and was conse- quently denominated ' the wonderful castle.* Notwithstanding the towns erected by the Danes and the stone buildings of the English, later ages added nothing to the beauty, commodiousness, or comfort of the Irish dwellings. Spencer describes them as ' rather swyne-styes then houses," and says the inmates lye and live together with the beasts, 'in one house, in one roome, in one bed, i. e. cleane strawe, or rather a foul dunghill!' And Barclay, a later writer, says, ' the cabbins are slight, about the height of a man, and are in common for themselves and their cattle/ **S Histoire Monastique d'lrlande, page 91, PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 257 CITIES. Of ten cities, which Ptolemy has delineated on his map in the second, or of eleven which Marcianus Heracleotes describes in the third century, in Ireland, Ware's edition assigns but two, that of Mercator three, and that of Ortelius four, to the Belgte. But those editors, seemingly ignorant of Gothic customs, or of those tribes' having been Belgic, have probably erred, as well as their author, in assigning them any. Ptolemy has delineated nineteen cities in Germany ; but Ammianus MarceUinus, a learned traveller of the fourth century, who was well acquainted with that country and with Gaul, in place of giving the Germans any, says, they regarded the Roman cities in no better light than tombs surrounded with nets/''^ We learn from Caesar, ( lib. vi. sec. 28) that the houses of the Germans were, like those of the Gauls, situate in woods and in the vicinity of rivers/'' He also informs *♦<' Lib. 16, cap. 2. Oppida, ut circumdata rctiis busta, dcclinant. ^47 iTIdificio circunidato sylvS, ut sunt fere domicilia Galloruni, qui vitandi xstu? causa, plcrumquc sylvarum ac fluminum pctunt propinquitatcs. k 258 INQUIRY INTO THE US, that a certain portion of land was assigned to German tribes and families, lor a year only;*"*' and two of the causes assigned were to guard against their building even comfort- able houses, and to prevent inequality in point of wealth/^" Tacitus coincides with Caesar, but gives a more circumstantial account. He says, they have no towns nor connected buildings. They have villages, but the houses are not continued; and the materials of every edifice are rude and inelegant. They neither know the use of mortar nor of tiles."^^ Beside those incommodious huts, constitu- ting villages, which by Ptolemy are dignified •**^ This custom, according to Spencer, prevailed in Ireland so late as the sixteenth century, when ' land is not let in farm, or for tcarme of yearcs to tenants, but only from yeare to yeare, and some during pleasure, neither indeed will the Irish tenant otherwise take his land than so long as he list himself, owing to the landlord laying upon them coigny and livery at pleasure, and exacting of them (besides his covenants) what he pleaseth.' 449 Lib. 6, Sec. 20. Magistratus ac principes — gentibus cognationibusque hominum, qi-i uni coierunt, quantum & quo loco visum est, agri attribuunt ; atque anno post anno transire cogunt. Ejus rei multas afferunt causas: — ne accuratius, ad frigora atque JEstus vitandos, sedificent : — ut animi aequitatc plebem contlneant, quum suas quisque opes asquari cum potentissimis videat. ^^° De Germ. Sec. 16. Nullas Germanorum populis urbes habitari, satis notum est; ne pati quidem inter se junctas sedes. Vicos locant, non — conuexis & cohxrentibus xdificiis. — Materia ad omnia utuntur informi & citra specicm aut delectationem. Ne csmcntorum quidem apud illos, aut tcgularum usus. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 259 with the name of cities, Tacitus adds, that in some colder parts of Germany, they opened chambers in the ground, which they covered with large quantities of dung. In these they sheltered themselves in winter, and deposited their corn/^ Kircher, in late times, calls those caverns ' the subterranean world," and Pomponius Mela says, that the Scythians in general dwelled during the rigour of winter in such abodes, whether formed by the h^d of man or by that of nature. According to Caesar, the city of Cassivellanus, the British commander-in-chief and governor of state, was fortified by morasses and woods, beset with thickets or plashed, and consisted of a ditch and ballium or rampart, fortified with interlaced stakes.'^^' Such, he says, were the fortifications which the Britons called cities ; and to these they were accustomed to retire from the incursion of enemies. What *J' Sec. 16. Solent & subterraneos specu3 aperire, eosque multo intuper fimo oncrant, sufTugium hicmi & receptaculum frugibus : quia rigorem frigorum ejusmodi locis molliunt. *i* Lib. 5, Sec. 17. Oppidum Cassivellani sylvis paludibusquc munltum. — Oppidum autcm Britaiini vocant, quuni sylvas impuditas vallo atque fobka rnunicrunt, qui, incursionls hostium vitandx cauia, convcnirc coiiiucvwuiit. 1260 INQUIRY INTO THE Caesar has omitted in his description, is supplied by Diodorus Siculus and Strabo. The former says, that beside those houses, which are constructed with timber and covered with reed, they had subterranean reservoirs called tigguo cohauc by loh. Asserus de JFAfr. reb. gestis, p. 2, for the panicles of corn, which they daily drew out for use. Strabo states, that the British towns were merely temporary forts, situated in woods. A space being chosen for^the purpose, they commenced their operations b}^ felling the trees. They then raised circular ramparts, and within the enclosure they erected huts for themselves and hovels for their cattle. Such exactly were the habitations of the Celtic and Belgic inhabitants of Ireland. Such were our boasted palaces, our towns and cities. Hence the names of palaces, ddn-lios, primh-lios, the prain or priv-lys of the Welsh, riogh-rath, briughean orBrug; and these were usually called after the pro- prietors, as rath chealtair mhic Duach, the fortificati,on of Keltair the son of Duach, Dun Sobairce, &c. &c. Hence, the ancient names of the towns, Dun Dubhline, Dun- daleath-ghlas, Dun-na-ngall, cS:c. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 261 The habitations of the Irish, though desig- nated by various denominations, were the same as those of the British, or nearly similar. Inhabited by families of different nations they received different appellations. These were RATH, BRUIGHEAN, CATHAIR, BAILE, DUN, DAINGEAN, LIOS. Those circular enclosures called rath, dun, daingean, lios, whether with or without the uaigh or uamh talmhan, the subterra- nean chambers or souterrains, are generally ascribed to the Danes ; those buildings called brug or bruighean, and those constituting towns called cathair and baile, were supposed to be the residence of Celtic families. On the other hand it is manifest from what I have stated relative to the Gothic buildings and from the rotund form of fortifications, which are yet preserved among their decend- ants in Iceland, Denmark and in the ancient Scandinavia, that their relatives, the Belgae of Ireland, had similar places of abode. And it appears from their form in Britain and in 262 INQUIRY INTO THE those j)arts of Ireland, which were inhal)ite(l by Celtic families before the Incarnation, that those of the Celtae of Ireland differed in name only. As we had no continued buildinsfs in Ireland, which merited the name of town, previous to the dominion of the Ostmen in Ireland, it is highly probable that, the Danes and Norwegians not only seized upon our strong holds, but constructed others. And these are in general distinguished from the simple fortresses of the 13elga3 in the south of Ireland, by their greater size, strength and elegance. In their commercial and piratical excursions they learned to improve from other nations, and during a period of eight hun- dred years it is presumable, they made some improvement themselves. They learned the use of stone and lime mortar, with which they lined their souterrains and cemented their rath, dun or keep, their piola'id or riogh-lann, which was the habitation of the chief, and situated within the area of the beallagh. In general, their rath or piola'id was im- mediately encompassed with the ban, which was at top fenced with paling plashed with branches of trees, and this ban was surrounded PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 263 by an entrenchment called inota or mothar, Avhich was also sometimes paled. Under the rath and sometimes iii a subterranean spot between it and the beallagh, the uaigh or uamli talmhan, the cellar or souterrain was situated, and this was intended both for provision and as a retreat for the women and children in times of danger. A few had the amharc or radharc, a watch-tower, rising above the ban. Some also contained sally- ports, which wei'Q long, narrow out-lets raised a few feet above the extremity of the souter- rains and intended as apertures occasionally for smoke and also for the escape of the besieged. Those constituted the component parts of those fortresses, which were occupied by Celtic and Danish chieftains, and most of them in after ages were indiscriminately used to signify a fortress in general. The word rath is now exclusively applied to denote a Danish fortification, as lios, dun, daingean are to distinguish those occupied by the Irish. But, as the form of each was alike, perhaps the only certain criterion by which the one can be distinguished from the other is by the use of lime mortar within the souterrains, a cement unknown to the S64 INQUIRY INTO THE ancient Celtre and Belgie of Ireland ; to which mark of discrimination some add a west entrance; that of the Celtae having faced the east. The dun, rath, mota, ban, brug and bruigean, baile, cathair, are Gothic words, or derivatives from that language. The appellation dun, the tin^ din., and dinas of the Welsh, is strangely supposed by the Irish to be used substantively, from the verb duinim — to shut, when applied to a fortress; though it is acknowledged to be no substantive in any other sense. Dun, in Gothic, means a hill; and fortresses having been usually constructed upon emi- nences, the name of tlie situation was figu- ratively transferred to that of the fortress. This appellation was probably borrowed by the Celtaj from the Belgee of Gaul. Kath is judiciously supposed by Mr. Ledwich to be Teutonic, because the words junker-raht, immer-raht, raht-vorwald, &c. are applied to artificial mounts and places of defence. — Mota, he says, is the Icelandic mot — a place of meeting, which was not always protected by a vallum. Ban he derives from hawen — to construct and secure widi branches of trees; PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. '265 but, according to Spelmann, it originally signified a plain, a territory, a camp and town. Brug and bruigean are derived by Mr. Ledwich from the Teutonic borg and borglien — a fortified eminence. Baile from balie — an enclosure, ballium, or fence ; but this word, in the primitive Gothic of Olaus Varelius, is byle, and signified, as it now does, in Irish, a village, a town/" Cathair, in Welsh caer, in Armoric ker, is probably derived from the Gothic car— a fortification. And though it is now exclusively applied to a city, it originally meant, in Ireland and Wales,*^* a round fortress. The village called Cathair, in Ibhrathach, was, I believe, originally but , a circular fortress ; and that near Macromp, called Cathair ce rin, resembled one of our common circular pounds. That denominated Cathair Conradh, on the summit of Slicbh Mis, I have already described. The only denominations, purely Celtic, are carraig, daingean and lios. Carraig — a rock, is used to express several of our ancient ♦13 Olai Vcreli index linguae vetcria Scytho-ScandicK sivc GothicK, in voce Fiol-byli, many villages. "*!♦ Ledwich' s Aiitiq. page 190. 1 266 INQUIRY INTO THE Englisli caslles. Daingeaii, derived from the verb daiugnigkim — to fasten, signifies a for- tification strongly impaled. Lios, according to Cluverius, is a Celtic word which originally denoted a whirlpool ; and from the rotundity of the eddy, was figuratively applied, to express the round form of the ancient Galhc, British and Irish houses,*" inhabited probably by the chiefs ; and also the Celtic fort. The Belgic forts in the south of Ireland, all of which are falsely ascribed to the Danes, are comparatively simple in structure. The raths, which I suppose to have been inhabited by the chieftains, in general consist of one, seldom of two ramparts and two fosses. I have not met with any vestige of a dun or citadel in the centre, nor of a watch-tower ; and many contain no souterrains. Those, which do, enclose from two to three chambers, each resembling a baker's oven. The aper- tures leading into the outward and inner apartments are so low that they cannot be entered without creeping. Other souterrains 4JS Hence, a house surrounded with a water ditch was called Dom-Ilos .• hence, perhaps, the old Iri^h name of a church reigh-iftt, a circular enclosure upon a plain. TRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 267 are continued zigzag galleries, lined with dry upright stones, and covered over head with large flags laid horizontally. The annexed drawing may give an idea of the internal form of the gallery. A.— The entrance. B and C— Right angles, at wluch large flag stones are placed ; apparently with the design of blocking up those passages in case of invasion. D.— Tlie termination of the gallery. E.— A sally-port, vent-hole, and place of cgrciJ forimoke; it is narrow, and raised about two feet abore Uic floor. 4I« Those souterrains are very incommodious*. They are in general too low to stand erect in, and too narrow for two persons to move in abreast : consequently, they could not have been designed for habitation. They must have been intended, as those of the British **•* These fortresses are usually iitaated upon eminences in the vicinity ol rivers or spring* ; and the lofty sites wrcrc probably chosen partly for view, and partly for the advantage of dry situations for subterranean cclU. 4S7 268 INQUIRY INTO THE were, for granaries; and accordingly Gir Cambr. says, they were applied to this use In place of the usual earthen mound or rampart, which encircles the rath, stone is substituted in some, as on the summit of Sliebh Mis, near Tralee, and in parts of Ibhrathach ; situations which afforded neither mould nor clay. Within those forts appropriated to the chieftains, who occupied the dun or centre, huts were erected for their attendants. But each of the small ones, which in the south of Ireland is generally called lios or lios-in, contained but one or two dwellings, and these resembling the form of the fort, were, as in Gaul and Britain, of a round shape.**' The circular basis of one is still preserved in a small fort called Lios-in Riagh, which is but twenty-four feet in length, and as many in breadth. It is situated on high ground at Cnoc-rathach, within six miles of Cork. The basis is formed of stones laid inclined, without cement, and the building must, consequently, have been constructed with timber. This island was in those days covered with '»" I'opogr. Hib. lib. '2, cap. 2 J. -♦^ See Strubo, p. JOi', for Gaul; and Whitakcr's Manchester, vol. I. p. 275, for Britain. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 269 woods, and beset with morasses : it was also unenclosed. In consequence, some of those tribes had probably, as in Britain, their Cangi, or shepherds, to prevent the cattle from straying, or from being stolen. And these, it is likely, raised temporary forts for summer, and some for winter residence. In some parts of the south of Ireland, the rath or principal fort is placed in the centre of subordinate ones, each of which is called lios, as in the following sketch : O O o @ o o In the neighbourhood of my residence, a fort called rath Fiola'id, which means the chieftain's or prince's fortification, was thus encompassed : each of the small ones is 270 INQUIRY INTO THE situate within a quarter of a mile of the rath. The central position of the rath rendered it secure, while its situation on a commanding height enabled the chieftain, not only to see the point of attack, (which it was customary to notify by ignited straw or other inflammable matter) but to muster his forces speedily ; while, on the other hand, every surrounding fort in danger, being equidistant from the rath, possessed every advantage from situation which could be expected from the vicinity, skill, and orders of the chieftain. This plan of fortification could not have been general in Ireland, if Spencer be correct in stating that those at the greatest distance were in the habit of marching from one lighted fort to another, until they met with the one attacked. I remarked a few small forts extending from the neighbourhood of the Giant's causeway, along the north coast, in the direction of Lame. From the bleak situation of some it may be inferred that, these were constructed in days of naval ignorance, as beacons to point out the island and to facilitate the landing of settlers or marauders upon this bold coast. And it is probable they belonged PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 271 to the Danes or Ostmen, because copper money, charcoal and pieces of decayed luiman bones were found enclosed within urns/^ near the Giant's causcAvay, in oblong cemeteries. So late as the time of Spencer, the custom was not disused*'*' of meeting armed at raths, ' there to parlie about matters and wrongs between township and tOAvnship, or one pri- vate person and another/ And even at this day in the Isle of Man, laws and ordinances are promulgated in Manks and English, from a tumulus or round artificial mount, between Pill and Ramsay, to the Hibernian and Icelandic wild offspring of that island. ^59 Some of these were plain ; others ornamented with spiral lines. The floor of the graves was paved, the tops covered, and the sides lined with large flag stones. The money resembled halfpence in size, but were so oxidated as to be pulverizable by the touch. The description of those graves, which I saw about seven years since, soon after they were discovered in a miller's garden, agrees with the accounts of diflerent writers, who speak of German customs. — Tacit, dc morib. Germ. — ' id solum observari, ut funera clarorum virorum certis lignis crcmentur.' And Christ. Cilicius, speaking of the Danes, says, nonnulli quoquc sed pauci extructis regis, more Romaiiorum, crcmari cinercsque collectos in urnS ciutodiri volebant. Also, C. C. belli Dithmarcici, lib. I. And 01. Worm. lib. I, cap. 7. *'^ About the end of the sixteenth c«ntury. 272 INQUIRY INTO THE CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH, AND ITS CAUSES. The character of the Irish given by Wilham of Mahiisbury, a British author of the tweUth century, agrees so exactly with the account of the venerable Bede that, it is very proba- ble he derived his information solely from this author. For the weight of evidence, in other centuries, against his representation of their manners, proves that, the change wrought in the eighth, by the pious example of, and the pure Christianity inculcated by, the clergy of that time, could have no reference to the Pagan times, nor to the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when a licen- tiousness of conduct was tolerated by the government, and encouraged in several parts of Ireland by clerical indolence and sensuality.'' 4(51 4'" Topogr. Hib. cap. 28. Sunt enim pastores, qui non pascere quaerunt, sed pasci. Sunt prselati, qui non prodesse cupiunt, sed praeesse. Sunt epis- copi, qui non omen, sed nomen : non onus, sed honorem amplectuntur. — Ubi & Rachelis pulchrltudinc sic delectantur : ut Liaa lippitudinem fastidio ducant. Unde accidit, ut nee verbum domini populo prsediceiit : nee scelera coruni eis annuntient, ncc in gregc sibi commisso vel extirpent vitia, vel inserant virtutes. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 273 It is probable that during the cightli century, the calm of peace pievailcJ over the storm of war, and produced not only repose to the people, but a state of tranquil- lity to the clergy, which enabled them to pro- secute their devout labours with assiduity and success. We may therefore reasonably infer that, in the seventh century, the Irish deserved the religious character which St. Jonas gave them, and that the eighth was distinguished by their peaceable demeanour ; but, the * innocent, simple and harmless disposition," which William, in the twelfth, had endowed them with, is not warranted from the des- cription of the Irish b}'^ Diodorus, written upwards of half a century before the Incarna- tion,**'* nor from that of Strabo,**^ Pomponius Mela*^* and Solinus,*''* in the first century ; 40' L. 5. Ferocissimos esse Oallorum, qui sub septentrionibus habitant, &c. 4<5J Geog. deiernc, p. 307. Dc hac nihil certi habeo quod dicani, niti quod incoix ejus Britannis sunt magis agrestes, qui & humanis vcscuntur carnibus, et plurimum cibi vorant, & pro honesto ducunt parentuni mortuorum corpora comederc, ac palam concumbcre non cuni aliis modS niulicribus, sed ctiani com matribus ac sororibuB, ica.) fiKr^an ko) 'aieX^oTf. — De Britannis idem scriptum est apud Cxsar. dc Bel. Gal. lib. 5, cap. 14, ^o-v Lib. 3, cap. 6. Cultorcs ejus inconditi sunt, & omnium virtutum ignari, pictatis admodum expert cs. 4°S Polyhis. — Hibcrnia inhumana est, ritu incoiarum aspcro. — Gqn» inhospita & bellicoaa, sanguine intercmptorum hausto priu», victorcs vultuj 6UO8 obliiiiunt. Fas atque nefas coJcm animo ducunt. m 274 INQUIRY INTO THE neither from that of Saint Jerome*'"' and Ammianus MarceUinus,'^' in the fourth ; nor from that of bishop Prosper/*" in the fifth ; which is insinuated by Cogitosus *^ and confirmed by Gildas,*'° in the sixth ; nor from the tenor of those letters of Lanfranc/" archbishop of Caaterbury, ^vritten A. D. 3074, to Gothric, king of DubUn, and to Terdelvacus, king of Ireland ; or that of Anselm, archbishop of the same see, in the close of the eleventh century, to Muriardach, king of Ireland, on the same subject ; nor from the united testimony of Malachie,^'^ Giraldus Cambrensis, '^'^ and Guhehnus Neubrigensis,*'* of the twelfth century. ♦"^ Sanct. Hierony. cpis. ad Ctesiphon. ' Neque Britannia et Scoticae gentes — barbarae nationes, &c. et iterum contra Jovinianum, p. 135- hujustractus. 4°7 ♦ Cilm Scotorum Pictorumque, gentium ferarum excursus,' &c. 458 Liber contra CoUatorem, speaking of Pope Coelestine: — fecit etiam barbaram Christianam (nationem Hibernicam.) — And Gallus, an Irishman: Scotia quondam bruta, nunc in Christo prudentissima, nobis lumen nostrum primitivum destinavit Kilianus. ^'^ Speaking of the town Kildare ;—-Ci vitas est refugli tuthiima deforis suburbanis in tota Scotorum terra, cum suis omnibus fugitivis, &c. 470 See note in p. 245 of this Inquiry. 47' Vet. Epist. Hib. Sylloge, lac. Usser. — In regno vestro perhibentur homines— legitime sibi copulatas pro arbitrio & voluntate relinquere ; nonnuUos suas aliis dare, & aliorum infanda commutatione recipere. 47» See note 357 of this Inquiry. 473 Topogr. Hib. cap. 10 et cap. 19. Gens spurcissima, gens vltiis involutissima, &c. et cap. 35. 474 Boxhorn.Hist. Univ. p. 734. Neubrigensis, lib. 2, cap. 26. Scd populos habet (Hibernia) moribus incultos & barbaros, legum & discipline fere ignaros : in agriculturam desides, & ideo lacte magis quam pane viventes. PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 275 From the accounts of those authors, the only century, in which they seem to have merited the innocuous character ascribed to them by Bede, was the eighth ; for in the seventh, al- though they were religious, St. Jonas insinuates that they were lawless : — ' gens quamquam absque reliquarum gentium legibus, tamen in christiani vigoris dogmate ilorens, omnium vicinarum gentium fidem prsepollet/*'* The distracted state of this island, before and during the first century, may be ascribed to the ignorance of the arts, the independence of Celtic tribes upon each other, and the consequent want of unanimity which always distinguished the Celtae from other nations. These causes probably enabled the Armorican setders to subdue and lay them under tribute. The subsequent interruption of trantjuilhty was caused by the restless and plundering disposition of the Belgae, who obtained an ascendant power over the Celtic inhabitants about the third century, which they continued to uphold until Uie eighth*'' and nindi, when *"S De vita S. Columbani. *'''' Eginhartus, Caroli item niagni canccllarius, A. D. 780, mquit : — « Norvvcgi Hiberniam Scotorum insulam aggrcssi, i Scotis in fugam convcrsi sunt. Tlicy arrived again, A. D. 81 '2, according to Hcrmannus Contractus and the Annalcs I'uldciisis Monasttrii. Ogyg, p. 433. Demum, anno 815, Turgcsius Norwcgui in Hiberniam appulit, & cxindc ibidem fixai sc^C* habere ccrpcrunt. 276 INQUIRY INTO THE they themselves found a new enemy in one branch of their own family, called Danes and Norwegians; and, in the twelfth, one still more formidable in another, denominated Saxons or English. Their shifting pastoral life and law of equality prevented improvement, and their practice of pillage not only prevented it among their neighbours, but caused a general neglect of agriculture, and a consequent want of the common necessaries of life. These evils were also promoted by that liberty in excess, which their Gothic laws allowed ; for, like the ancient Germans, their ancestors, the Belgse were a military and free people, over whom their generals had no power of castigation. The infliction of punishment among them was probably conceived to be, as among the Germans, an act emanating from a deity, through the instrumentality of their bards.""" They acknowledged no dependance upon, or obedience to, other tribes.'"' Their eruic or amercement,*'' which ♦77 Tac. de Germ. sec. 7. 478 o'Halloran's Introd. vol. 2, p. 295. ' The Heberlans, as Kings of South Ireland, acknowledged no kind of dependence on the Monarchs.' — And Tacitus de Germ. sec. 7, Nee regibus infinita aut libera potcstas. •*7y Tac. de Germ. sec. \2 & sec. 21 . Luitur tnim etiani homicidium certo armentorum ac pecorum numero, recipitque satisfactionem universa doraut PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 277 roused all the latent and bad passions, became the general and predominant law of this isle.*"" Under its murderous influence, the life of man became, almost with impunity, the sport of ambition, jealousy or anger ; while that of horses, among their Gothic ancestors, was preserved inviolate. The predominance of this law rendered other ordinances vague, feeble, nugatory. Hence the history of the Irish kings is, with few exceptions, a history of ambition, murder*" and usurpation?* And those vices, which were construed into military virtues, became subjects of panegyric among the venal horde of bards. The following stanza ♦8^ In the reign of Henry VII. A. D. 1495, an act was made ' that no person take any money or amends called • assaut' for the death or murder of his friend or kinsnian, other than the King's laws will.' 46' Mixture of Fable and Fact, p. 75. O'Flaherty, p. 420, inform* us that, of one hundred and thirty-six Pagan Kings, one hundred died by the sword, and only seventeen met with a natural death. 4BJ O'Halloran's Introduction, voL 5, p. 252. « That Brien »hould form the resolution to dethrone Malachie, had nothing of novelty in it, too many similar instances have occurred in the course of this history ; and provided the claimant was of the Royal line of Milesius, had received the order of chivalry, and could show three royal scats in his family, his success was not deemed an usurpation.' — Sec Kcating's Hist, passim. — Topog. Hib. cap. 45, Praidicti vcro reges non alicujus coronationis solcmnitatc, non inunctionis Sacramento, non ctiam jure hcrcditario, vcl aliqua succcssJoiiis proprictate : scd vi & armis tantum, totius insulx monarchiam obtinucrunt : & »uo more regni gubcrnacula lusceperunt. 2JS INQUIRY INTO THE is extracted from a poem of one of the most eminent bards among the Irish : Sinsireacht ni ghabhain ceart A ttir do ghabhthar le neart ; Calmacht na bhfear is ceart an, 'Sni sinsireacht fhear nanbhan. This, in prose, admits of the following translation, which is ahiiost literal :— Title by seniority does not constitute a right to a territory subdued by superior strength. A real right consists in valour, not in the imbecility of old age. All foreign writers from the third to the fifteenth century call the Irish, Scots, an appellation, which insinuates that they Avere Goths, or a people of Gothic descent; yet the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, founding his opinion upon the tenor of Ossian's poem, affirms that the Celtic tribes predominated in Ireland. The bards take but little notice of the Belgae or Damnonii under these names : they even limit their duration in Ireland from thirty to eighty years. The native writers never PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 27^ imagined that the posterity of the Cauci, Menapii, Ibhearni, &c. who used the Celtic language, could have been distinct tribes from their neighbours, the Brigantes, with whom they were engaged for centuries at war. Nevertheless, Irish history unknow- ingly traces the Belgic conquests into every provmce in Ireland, in which their descen- dants divided themselves into septs; toparchs, and clans, seizing upon large tracts of land and occupying them, as they appear upon the map prefixed to this work.*^ Like the Romanized Britons, who considered the Picts a savage people distinct from themselves, the Irish, ignorant even of their own history, never conceived that the manners and customs of Germany were the predominant manners and customs of Ireland. Yet, all the Irish bards were aware of the dominion of a Gothic or Scythian family in Erin; but, ignorant of the tribes by which it had been effected, they have preposterously ascribed it to the arms and transferred it to the family of the Celtic Brigantes. ^^3 The bards inform us of the names of several other places poBScssed bjr branches of thii family In Erin : they arc not described on the Map prefixed to this History, because the situations cannot be now ascertained. 280 INQUIRE INTO THi: The Belgae seem to have plotted the subju- gation of the Celtae l^etween the second and the third century, and, as I have observed, succeeded at length in seizing upon their possessions. Another branch, of the same famil}^ called Saiwis, reduced the Celtae of Britain in about four centuries after the Roman conquest, when its population was thinned by the emigration of its youth, and by frequent skirmishes with the plundering Picts and Scots. The Belgic or Scottish tribes of Ireland, after the reduction of the Celtae, continuing a life of rapine, preyed upon each other and reduced their population so considerably that, in the twelfth century, a small army of adventurers, composed of Saxon and Norman descendants, conquered a large portion of those Belgic septs, and obtained possessions in this country. Thus, the Belgae and Saxons, two branches of the same family, differing in language, manners and customs, then occupied the soil of Ireland. Jealousy, nurtured by prejudice and pride, opposed itself to inconsiderateness, folly, and power, from the t^velfth to the seventeenth century ; during which time, these causes prevented the bonds of consanguinity PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 281 from uniting the Irish and British people in fellowship : they prevented the principle ot mutual interest from producing unanimit}^ and happiness. Yet both were, as their posterity in Britain and Ireland still are, descendants of the Goths, and consequently, one family : a family connected by the tie of kindred to a long line of British monarchs, descended from a race common to both ; a tie strengthened by allegiance and still con- necting, through German origin, the subjects of Great Britain and Ireland to their present gracious sovereign, George the Fourth.: The British are highly aj)plauded ; the Irish greatly traduced. The former seem to consider the latter, compared with them- selves, a wild variety of their own species, as if the channel between them should alter the course of nature, and enable the zoologist, ■with regard to the native animals, and the botanist, with regard to the indigenous plants of Great Britain, to discover a dissimilitude between their species and the same produced at this side of the water. Different modes of education have caused different manners and customs: these constitute discriminating traits of character; but though they differ in these 282 INQUIRY, &c. respects, both, as I have observed, are, with regard to family, of the same race ; and, as to relative rank, the Irish are equally brave, benevolent, generous, and equally susceptible of instruction. ^ After this Inquiry had been written, some friends suggested to the author, the propriety of translating those different quotations, whose tenor may happen to be omitted ; but as the pages could not admit of their insertion, he has, in compliance with their advice, collected them at the end. ADDEl^DA. ADDENDA. Note 1. Casarde bell. Gall. — Britain abounds with inhabitants. Note 129. Catsar. — Most of those who live in the interior part* of the country do not sow corn ; but Hve upon milk, and flesh. Note 135. Tacitus. — You may perceive a similar behef among the inhabitants of both countries, vpith regard to their sacred rites and superstitions : their language does not differ much. Note 136. Cassar. — Their houses are crowded; and their structure and form are almost the same as those of the Gauls. Strabo. — Their houses are of a round shape and built of planks and wattles. Note 138. Caesar. — They are clad in skins. Note 139. Strabo. — They are partly more simple and barbarous insomuch that some of them are ignorant of the mode of making cheese, although they have an abundance of milk. Note 14'3. Caesar. — A' family consisting of ten or twelve men have wives in common ; especially brothers among each otlier, and parents among tlieir children j but the issue is for the most part reputed to be iho oflspring of those who manied the mulheii of the children. 286 ADDENDA. Note 1 4.4'. Aristotle on the World. — In the Atlantic Ocean the largest islands are two, called the Britannic, — Albion and lerne. Note 145. Dionysius Periegetes. — But there are British islands toward the south, of which two are considerable in point of magnitude : one, situated eastward, is called Albion ; the other, facing the west, lerne. Note He. Beverus. — Isacius, against Lycophron, celebrates it under the name of West Britain. Note 1 58. O'Flaherty.— As the Tuatha DeDanan are reported by our writers to have arrived at the north coast of Ireland. Note 165. Life of St. Coemgin. — And in the Scottish tongue it is called dubii-lin, a name which in Latin signifies the black lath. This city is powerful and warlike ; always renowned for valiant soldiers and skilful seamen. Note 178. Tacitus. — The landing places and harbours of Ireland are, by means of commerce and merchants, better known than those of Britain. Note 1 84. Caesar. — Of whom almost all are called after the names of those natire cantons from which they proceeded hither. Note 194. Beverus. — Appian, a grave author, who lived under the emperor Hadrian, says, that the Spaniards undertook no voyage to the west or north ocean, unless when they availed themselves of the tide in sailing to Britain. Note 196. Rer. Hib. Scr. Vet. — For Silius and Horace inform us that, Scythians dwelled in Spain ; whence Nennius narrates their emigration to Ireland in the fourth age of the world. Horace, lib. 3, car. 4. — Whensoever I shall be honoured with your company, O Muses ! I shall, without sustaining any injury, visit the Britons, who are inhuman to strangers ; and the Concani who delight in horses' blood; Silius ItaHcus, lib. 3, 360, — Nor you, O Concanus ! who evince by your cruelty and by satisfying your appetite with the blood of horses, that you are a descendant of the Massagetac. ADDENDA. 2S7 Note 207. Richard. — It is very certain, that the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes, Cangi and other tribes were of British origin, and passed over afterward. And, p -tS, I cannot avoid observing here, that the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes and Cangi, were all tribes of British origin, which, in consequence of hostile attacks or oppressive tributes, passed over into that land. Note 209. Richard. — About that time, in the year of the world 4'050, the Cangi and Brigantes having left Britain, emigrated together into Ireland and settled there. Note 234. Ma Geoghegan. — The first colony of the Scoto- Milesians, which established itself in Alba, was headed in the beginning of the third century, by Carbre, &c. Note 24)6. Juvenal. — Than whom neither the terrible Cimbri, nor the Britons ( Armoricans). Note 247. Martial. — How the old breeches of the poor Briton (Armorican). Note 248. PUny. — Britain at this time devoutly celebrates that sorcery, or religion of the Magi, and with so much ceremony that she may be supposed to have introduced it among the Per.ians. Note 252. Diodorus.-— The opinion of Pythagoras prevailed among them, that the immortal souls of men pass into other bodies, and, in a limited time, acquire a new animation. Note 257. Lucan. — You too, O bards or prophets! who dismiss with glory, into a long age, those brave souls removed iu battle, have fearlessly poured forth your numerous strains ! Note 267. Dionysius Perieg. — But near this, there is another tract of small islands, where wives, proceeding from the farther coast of the illustrious Amnitae, sacrifice to Bacchus, according to custom, with the nocturnal black-leaved ivy crowned with clusters of berries. A shrill noise however is emitted, unhkc that, &c. Note 272. Horat. — I will visit the Britons, a people inhuman to strangers. Note 281. Tacitus. — The language not much different. •-'88 ADDF.NDA. Note 283. Giraldus Cambrensis.— The language of the Cornish is British, and very like that of the Armoricans. The tongue of both is intelligible to the Welsh, on account of its origin and agreement in almost every word. See the comment upon the first chapter, by David Powel. Note 287. Bede — A, D. 565, Columba, a presbyter, came from Scotland (Ireland) to Britain to instruct the Picts, and he founded a monastery in Hy (Aoi or I, the island.) Note 293. Mac Geoghegan. — As to those who think that the Milesians had received their letters immediately from the Phenicians, their opinion appears the more probable on account of the com- mercial intercourse of this people in Spain as well as in Ireland. Note 296. Tacitus. — But, besides, he directed the sons of the chiefs to be instructed in the liberal arts ; and he learned that the capacity of the Britons enabled them to make a greater progress than the Gauls had made by closer study. Note 299. Alemand. — At Mayo, otherwise Mageo, there had been a celebrated abbey, founded in 665 by St. Colman, to which he brought several English and Irish monks. Note 308. Asser. — First of all, he appointed the presbyter John, of the £ald-Saxon nation, an abbot. Usher. — At that time, about the year of Christ 872, John Erigena of the Eald-Saxon nation, flourished in the monastery of St. David in Pembrokeshire, He was called the Scot, because he had been in Ireland. Note 317- Diodorus. — The British islands and territories near the north pole, are of all others the least known. Note 318. Caesar. — The Gauls were almost wholly ignorant of the origin of the British people : they were unacquainted with their coasts, harbours and landing places. The merchants were, with very few exceptions, the only Gauls who had any intercourse with them ; and their information extended only to a knowledge of the sea coast, and of that part of the country opposite to Gaul. ADDENDA. 28f) Note 323. Beverus. — For he says, they abound la lead and tin. Note 325. Tacitus. — The Roman fleet having then, for the first time, sailed round this coast of the newly discovered sea, affirmed that Britain was an island : at that time they discovered and subjugated those islands called the Orkneys, which until then were unknown. Note 331. Tacitus. — And lest any should become powerful, all the male issue of the ancient Germans succeeded to the paternal lands. Note 335. Diodorus Siculus. — The most ferocious of the Gauls are those who inhabit the north, as the Britons who occupy Iris — Ireland. Note 338. Strabo. — In disposition they are like the Gauls; but are partly more simple and barbarous. Note 339. Diodorus. — The British islands and the north parts are the least known. Note 343. Diodorus. — They say that some of these are cannibals, like the Britons who inhabit F.rin. Strabo. — Of this island I cannot speak with certainty, except that its inhabitants are more savage than the Britons ; that they live upon human flesh. I however give this account from doubtful authority. Note 345. SoUhus. — Ireland is a barbarous country; the manners of its inhabitants are rude. They are a cruel and warlike people, in the habit of first drinking, and then of smearing their faces with, the blood of the slain. Note 351. Giraldus Cambrensis. — The lands are partially cultivated and very sparingly sown ; for indeed the tilled fields are, in consequence of the neglect of cultivators, very few. — Good husbandry is wanted for sustenance : whilst they have need of farmers to manage rich lands, impoverished tracti want hand* for their cultivation. o 290 ADDENDA. Note 352. Giraldus Cambrensis. — The island however aboiiiuls more with pasture than with corn, with grass than grain. The grass-corn looks promising, the culms still more so ; but the grain is poor. The grains of wheat are shrivelled and small, and can hardly be cleaned by any mode of winnowing. Note 357. Giraldus Cambrensis. — An inhospitable nation living among beasts in a bestial manner ; a people still pursuing the primitive pastoral mode of living : a people despising agricultural labour, yet caring little about that wealth, which citizens are solicitous to acquire. Note 360. Sir James Ware. — As to the daily food of the ancient Irish, it is a fact that, that of the lower order was very poor : it usually consisted of milk, butter and herbs. Note 362. Strabo. — Even now, most of them eat, sitting upon straw or grass stools. Note 369. Strabo. — They use a wooden javelin in fowling ; and in place of flinging it with the aid of a strop, they use the hand. Note 376. Cassar. — They threw stones and heavy javelins against the rampart. Note 380. Tacitus — The German shields were neither strength- ened with iron nor with strings, but were made of plashed willows or of thin stained boards. Note 387. Solinus. — They, who aie fond of finery, ornament the handles of their swords with the teeth of marine animals, which look white as ivory ; for the predominant pride of the men seems to be confiaed to the beauty of their armour. Note 388. Strabo. — The Gauls use both those and their own in war. . Note 391. Silaus. — As when the Belgic dog chases the covert boars. Note 392. Caesar. — There were six thousand horse, and as many foot, composed of the swiftest and strongest soldiers, whom they chose as safeguards out of the whole army. ADUENDA. 291 Note 395. Cassnr. — These accompanied them in battle. If they should have occasion to take a long march, or to retreat quickly, habit made them so fleet that, by aid of their horses manes, they kept up with the riders. Note 409. Tacitus — Those Hmbs and bodies, which we admire, grow up naked and fihhy in every house. You cannot discriminate the master from the servant by any improvement from education. They live with the cattle upon the same floor, until age and merit separate the higher order. Note 413. Cluverius. — The Persians are expensive in dress. They are excessively fond of party-coloured clothes. Note 415. Lucan. — The fierce Vangiones and Batavians who imitate thee, O Sarmatian ! in wearing the loose breeches. Note 416. Caesar. — And such is their custom that, even in the coldest parts of the country, they have no clothing except skins ;. and these are so small that they leave a large part of the body uncovered. Note 417. Diodorus. — Their apparel is wonderful. Their jackets are dyed with various colours, and appear as if sprinkled \vith flowers. They wear breeches, which they call braca. Their mantle or plaid, which was also striped and richly chequered, as if with flowers, is worn thinner in summer than in winter, and it is fastened with clasps or buttons. Note 418. Tacitus. — The most wealthy are distinguished by a tight dress, in which the shape of the limbs appears. Note 423. Gildas. — Those' terrible gangs of Scots and Picts are more desirous of covering their roguish faces with glibs than the indecorous parts of their persons with raiment ; and though they diff'er somewhat from each other in manners, they are both equally delighted in the shedding of human blood.— - Those tawny vermicular battalions, proceeding from the narrow chambers of their forts, (in Ireland and Caledonia) and crossing the Scythian valley, (the north channel) in their corachs, eagerly 292 ADDENDA. disembark upon the British coast, and, heated with rage, return to their wonted practices : — quasi in alio Titane, is an expression, which the author of this Inquiry does not understand- Note 425. Eumenius. — Moreover, the British nation, then rude, and peopled only with Britons accustomed to the inroads of the half naked Picts and Irish, easily yielded to the Roman arms and colours. Note 426 . Gir. Camb. — They are lightly clad in woollen cloth barbarously shaped and generally black, owing to the sheep of that country being black. Note 436. Tacitus. — The practice partially pursued, by individuals of some German tribes, and originating in private daringness, is generally adopted among the Catti, who, Avhen of adult age, suffer the hair and beard to grow ; and this covering, which is devoted to valour, they never divest themselves of, until they destroy an enemy. Note 438. Tacitus. — The Suevi, even till old age, delight in coarse flowing hair, which they often tie on the crown of the head. Note 439. Tacitus, — Ahelmetof steel or leather is rarely used. Note 441. (Should be 440) Strabo. — Those, who hold honorable employments, assume dyed raiment, variegated with gold. Note 440. (Should be 441) Strabo. — A considerable share of folly, of arrogance, and love of finery is attached to their simplicity and feiocity; for they wear golden chains about the neck, and bracelets about the arms and wrists. Note 443. Cjesar. — And their houses, crowded together, are almost the same as those of the Gauls. Note 449. Cffisar.— The magistrates and princes allow to cantons and families as much land as they think expedient, and where they please ; but they obhge them to remove annually from their possessions. The motives for this practice are numerous : one was intended to prevent their building, with the view of guarding against the extremes of cold or heat ; another, to ADDENDA. 295 preserve equanimity among the lower order, who could have no cause of jealousy, on perceiving that, their possessions equal those of the most powerful. Note 450. Tacitus. — It is well known that, the Germans do not dwell within cities, nor have connected houses. They have villages, but the houses are not continuous. The materials made use of are mishapen and without fashion or taste. They are not even acquainted with mortar or tiles. Note 459. Tacitus. — This only is to be observed that, the corpses of celebrated men are burned with a certain sort of timber. And Christ. Cilicius says ; some, but not many, wished after the Roman custom, to have their bodies burned, and the collected ashes preserved in an urn- Note 461. Giraldus Cambrensis. — There are pastors who do not endeavour to feed, but to be fed. There are prelates who do not desire to do good, but to rule. There are bishops who do not aim at prognostication, but at fame ; they seek honour, not toil. They are so delighted with the beauty of Rachel as to disdain the sore eyes of Leah. On which account it happens that, they neither preach the word of God to the people, nor announce their sins : they neither extirpate vice from the fleck committed to their care, nor plant virtue in its room. Note 462. Diodorus. — The most ferocious of the Gauls are those, vi^ho dwell in the north. Note 463. Strabo.— Of this island I have no certain information, except that its inhabitants are wilder than the Britons, and feed upon human flesh : they are gluttons, and think it a virtuous act to devour the corpses of their parents, and to lie publicly, not only with other women, but even with their mothers and sisters ! An account nearly similar is given of the Brilons, by Caesar, on the Gallic war. — Book 5, chap. 14. Note 464. Pomponius Mela.— Its inhabitants are rude, ignorant of every virtue, and totally devoid of religion. 291 ADDENDA. Note 4-65. Solinus. — Ireland is a savage counti7 ; the manners of the inhabitants unpoHshed. This inhospitable and warlike people, when victorious, first, &c — (see note 345) . They are ignorant of any distinction between right and wrong. Note 466. The Epistle of St. Jerome to Ctesiphon. — Neither Britain — the Scottish people — barbarous nations, &c. And again, against Jovinian. Note 467. Ammianus Marcellinus. — When the inroads of the Scots and Picts, a wild people, &c. Note 468. Prosper. — He made even the barbarous Irish nation a christian one. Note 469. Cogitosus. — Of the whole land of the Scots, this town is the safest asylum for all those fugitives, who dwell about it. Note 471. Usher. — It is reported that, husbands in your kingdom abandon, according to fancy or will, those wives to whom they were lawfully married ; that some arc in the abomin- able habit of exchanging their own for those of others, &c. Note 473. Gir. Cambrensis. — A most filthy people, polluted in the highest degree with vice. Note 474. Neubrig — But the inhabitants of Ireland are rude and barbarous in manners, scarcely acquainted with laws and government : they are slothful in agriculture, and therefore depend for sustenance more on milk than bread. Note 475. Sane. Jonas. — Although thi^ nation is without the benefit of those laws, which govern other states, yet by her progress in the christian doctrine, she exceeds all her neighbours in devotion. Note 476. Eginhartus, chancellor of Charles the Great, says that, A. D. 780, the Norwegians, who invaded Ireland, the island of the Scots, were driven out by the natives. O'Flaherty. — At length, A. D, 815, Turgesius, a Norwegian, arrived in Ireland, and then began to obtain a footing there. ADDENDA. 295 Note 4-78. Tacitus. — Their kings have not an unlimited or free power, over them. Note 479. Tacitus. — Even murder is atoned for, by a certain number of cattle or sheep, which appease the wrath of the whole family. Note 482. Giraldus Cambrensis. — But the above-mentioned kings obtained the monarchy of the whole island, not by the solemnity of coronation, not by the consecration of unction, not even by hereditary right or propriety of succession, but by force and arms only ; and they usurped the reins of government according to their custom. INDEX. 8^\\1iere tins mark * follows the name of Ptolemy or Oro>.ius, it is iUcnded to signify that corresponding Irish tribes have been dijcovered by ihe Author of this Inqiiirj', Page x\oRICULTURE, State of 220 — •^— — — causes of its neglect 27^ Aisgear Riada, (pronounced A'sh-ger Rheada) the Irish commercial road Notes iii, 179, 202, 326. Aras Cheltair, (pronounced A-ras Koulthir) 105 Architecture, orders of, unknown to the Irish i-SS Arms i a»8 — — Irish, and order of battle "^iS Attacotti — Attachtuatha, (pronounced Ahach-thoo-ha) .... 85, 86, 147 Aut-e-ri of Ptolemy — Aut-Araidhe, (pronounced Aut-aw-rce) .... 93 Bacchus, his rites celebrated by married women in isles adjacent to Britain 1 7 Z Baile, (pronounced Bal-lce) lot Bailc biadhtaigh, (pronounced Bailee bia-thig) number, in two of the divisions of Munstcr **" Bards, the number in Ireland 57 — — their immunities • ^Oj *^° ■ specimen of their poetry ^7° Bardic history ^' confused Notes 10, 25, a6. 298 INDEX. Page Belgic tribes of Ptolemy* Note 114 106 history of their emigration from the East to Germany, Gaul, &c 67, 107 . xra of their arrival in Ireland 108, II» their usual denominations in Ireland 117 their' language Note ijz, 106 genealogy, according to the hards no their first settlement in the south of Ireland, according to Ptolemy and the bards Note ni, . . . 51, 5s • their emigration to Conacht 94 — the north of Ireland 52, 5;^ coincidence between Ptolemy and the bards, with regard to the number and names of their tribes . . . Note 114, . . b . . 54 Bhreogain Clanna, (pronounced Clan-na Bro-gaan) 7,5 ^rigantes of Ptolemy* 121 . whence and when they came to Ireland .... 131 their settlements in Ireland .... 131, 134, 135 Britain, first inhabitants, proved by tradition from age to age 68 Britons not Cimbri ; Note 291. ■■ their military chariot derived from the Persians 70 — — ^— their maritime vessels , Note 16. ■ their religion 162 ■ their language the same as the Gallic i8i ■ hemmed in between the Picts, the Irish and the sea 150 ■ implore the aid of ^tius, a Roman consul 150 — — their emigration to Annorica, Wales and Cornwall 157 Bruighean, (pronounced Breen) a^i Cangan or Ceann-Cangi of Ptolemy,* (pronounced Kown CangI) allies of, and cotemporary settlers with, the Brigantes 130 their settlement in Ireland • 133 definition of their name Note 210. Cathafr a6r Cathair Conraidh, (pr. CauhLr Con-rce) nearTralee, described. Note 106. Cauci of Ptolemy,* a Belgic tribe, their mode of living io8 — — time of their arrival in Ireland . . . 109 called Germans, by the Irish ib. Celts, their emigration 68 ■ - name defined 72, 73 — ^ subdued by the Belgae , 1*9, 134, 175, 238, 279 INDEX. 299 Pa£c Chariot, Gallic, British and Irish derived from the Persians .... 70, 231 Children vendible by law in Britain 240 Chronology 203 when adjusted to the Christian sera in Britain and Ireland 148 Cimbri not Celts Note 130 Cities 2J7 Clergy, state of, in the sixth, seventh and ninth centuries 171 Coriondiiof Ptolemy, perhaps the Corunraigh, (pronounced Car-ru-nig) a German tribe lit Daingean, (pronounced Dang-iun) 261 Damnii of Ptolemy * Note ;iSj ^4 Danann Tuatha De (pronounced Thoo-haDeaDan-nin) 21,84,91, 102, 140 Deities worshipped in Gaul and Britain 162 Germany 167 Ireland 176 Dress, comprehending the sac or lelne, breac, faillin, rolne, cliobh-gunna, glib, biread, &c 240 — — skins, anciently used for bed-clothes , 245 . garments black, in the twelfth century 246 consisted of one entire vesture in the seventeenth century . . . 247 Druids 162 in Ireland ijo their customs and maxims 173 .. their ideas of heaven and hell • • 178 Dun, (pronounced Dhoon) 261 Eamhain Macha, (pronounced Av-in Magh-ha) 105 Eibhear, (pronounced Ea-vir) < 4* Emigration of three distinct nations from the east toward the west . . 67 Irish colonies to Caledonia I47> ^54> ^55 evidence of their Irish descent ij* Eochaidh siol, (pronounced SheelO-hec, Eo-hee, or 0-hig) Note 94, . 113 Erdini of Ptolemy,* called by the bards Er-di-nidh, (pronounced Ear-dee-nee) or Emaigh, (pronounced Ear-ncc) 93 Er-in defined i ^o its foreign name* founded upon the original Celtic 63 first settlers unknown Note 156, 66 called a British Island by foreign writers '/S Eruic or amercement, (pronounced Ea-ric) 270 Feinc Eirionn, (pronounced Fian-na Eir-iun) '-ii 300 INDEX. Tagt Feine Eirionn, their settlement in Ireland 141 . commanded by Fionn Mac Cumhail, (pr.Fuin moc Cuil) 143 —_— many of their fire-places discovered near brooks in the South of Ireland 146 ■ ' their history 145, 146 ■ their poetry Note i^iZ ■ — — date of Ossian's poems in the present Scotland 144 Fine Foghmhoraicc, (pronounced Fin-ne Fo-vo-iee) probably Gallic or Armoric tribes 15, 88, 98 expelled by Julius Csisar 89, 96 Figures, poetic, discovered and explained from p. 12, throughout the Bardic Hist- Food 216 how cooked 223, 224 form of tables, seats, &c. (Gallic) , 223 Gaill, (pronounced Ghccl) their origin according to the bards, N. 68, 70 — — bardic play upon their name accounted for by Dr. O'Brien, S5t T^ who they were 65 name of this nation used by the Irish to signify relationship ... 73 Gaming ,....; 214 Carrowes 2i6 Generals, Roman, appointed to repel the Picts, Scots & Saxon pirates 154 Heremon's residence, (Eireamhon, pronounced Eir-a-voin) . . . 52, jj, 131 History, Milesian, according to the bards 25 observations by Dr. O'Brien Notes SS^ 70 _— — — _— — according to the aurhor of this Inquiry 121 supposed author, and the age in which he wrote. Notes 100, 105 3, 47. 49 : arrival of the Milesians in Ireland 131 — first settlement 132 , — . second settlement 134 I — ____ coincidence with Ptolemy's map 6> 15 Hospitality 225 • Irish, of Gothic origin 226 Houses 58, a5i> 256 form » 253 lime, in building, first introduced by the Danes 255 ■ German, not connected • 258 erected within forts -. . 268 Ibcrni of Ptolemy'' Note 92, . . . 114, n6 INDEX. 301 Ireland, name defined 6.^ first innabitants, according to the bards it first authentic inhabitants, according to the author 58, 83 Irish erroneously supposed to be desccndents of the Geta, from a line in Fropertius 8a their character = 2?^ kings, their fate *77 Kindred, degrees of, probably not observed by the British in the time of Julius Cassar ; nor by the Irish before the introduction of the Christian religion, 74 Language, Celtic ' * iSo — , Irish dialect resembling the Brigantian l8z affinity of the Irish with the British Note 284 the Welsh, Cornish and Armoric understood by each of these people in the twelfth century 189 the Gallic, British, Pictish and Irish, probably understood by each of those people in the first century 185 the Welsh not Cimbric 189 proofs of the antiquity of the Irish language 187 St. Adamnan's opinion of it 188 . — the Irish dialect of Oriental origin 8a neither the Irish dialect nor its alphabetic characters connected with the Carthaginian language or letters Note ay a Letters, Irish • ^9^ do not resemble, in form or power, the Phoenician, Punic, Coptic", Bastulan, ancient Spanish or Gothic letters 193 not derived from the Saxons • . • 197 Pclasgic engraved on stone, and discovered within the settlement of the Milesians in Ireland ^ ' • • JJi. 172. Lios, (pronounced Liss) • 261 Lu-ce-ni of Orosius* ^^7 Mac and O, or Ua, when applied to surnames 143' Macolicum of Ptolemy, the chief town of the Ccann Cangi, probably discovered ' *3o MaghGeidnc (pronounced Maw-Ginca) district, appointed for payment of tribute 93- 95. 9-; Magh Seohdhc — Maw Sho-la '33 Man, Isle of, primitive inhabitants 8a 302 INDEX. Page Alan, Ible of, language , ; , . in Map of Ptolemy (Irish) not known to the bards . • 6 proved by the author to be authentic 84 Marriage aia Menapii of Ptolemy* 107, 109 • arrival in Ireland 109 Alilesians, discovered Note 91, 92, ... . 121, 129, 131, 135 •' — bardic history , 25 definition of their denominations :... 127 account of their arrival from Spain contradicted by history. Note 196, : 123 ——— — their travels 20i subdued by the Ibearni and their allies . Note 122, . . . 56, 115 Nagnati of Ptolemy, probably discovered 91 Numerals, Irish , . . j^oa Ossian, (Oisin, pronounced Uis-sheen) 144 Pagans in Ireland in the fifth century . . : Note 198 Phoccans, their settlement in Gaul 1^0 Picts of Ireland, Cruitnigh, (pronounced Cruich-nee) 135 Herodian's history of the Caledonian 1^5 ■ first and second settlements in Ireland 130 Population, ancient, of Ireland jg Rath (pronounced Raah) 261 money, charcoal and human bones found within cemeteries in their vicinity 271 Religion, Druidic jg^ Persian jgj Pagan, in parts of Ireland in the fifth century Note 198 Rhobogdiiof Ptolemy* Note 18, 85, 86, 91 Richard of Cirenchester, a priest and historian of the fourteenth century 60 Roboig clanna, (pronounced Clanna Ro-boag) 15 Sam Gaolach, (pronounced Sam Gsy-Ioch) a British commercial road made in a direction opposite to the Irish, Notes 179, 180, .. 100, 102, 210 Saxons, arrival in Britain i j2 — — — vehence and when they came 153 ■ mode of fighting, 154 INDEX. 303 Pag; Scots, Scuit, (pronounced Skuit) Notes 67, 68, 31, 35, 39, 77 Sicambri rot Celts Note 130 Slaves made in war 339 Souterrains, used in Germany, Britain and Ireland 259 Spain, brief account of its primitive inhabitants 123 Towns, primitive, in Ireland Note 190 Trade 207 British exports and imports ao8 Greeks of Marseilles 160, aio —^ Romans of Narbonne -. aio Udii or Vodii of Ptolemy* ........Note 94, 1x3 Velibori of Ptolemy* 116 Vessels, maritime, used by the Spaniards, British and Irish, Note 16 Vennicnii of Ptolemy, probably discovered 9I Ullaigh, (pronounced Ool-lhee or Ool-lig) 1 04 Uluntii or Voluntii of Ptolemy* 104 War, the Gauls, Scots, &c. anciently fought naked and often without arms 23 7 Irish favorite idol in war 336 Week-days in the English and Irish languages, derived from heathen gods Note a6z Wolf-dog, British and Irish 334 Worship, Druidic, of Persian origin 161 END. iilililiSi^ntr: 000 028 326 :